The Chaos Between Light and Darkness
by Devil Hunter Kira F Sparda
Summary: A Worlds Collide collab fic with original creator of 'Worlds Collide' WriteFF13. Cloud and Lightning are thrust in a world where demons and angels rule. They are tasked to aid and protect a demon bounty hunter and a witch that are the keys to three Artefacts. A cult, however, is hell-bent on acquiring them first. FF7/FF13/DMC/Bayonetta crossover. CloudxLight & DantexBayonetta.
1. Prologue p1: Into A New & Strange World

_Devil Hunter Kira F Sparda here! I am back, but this time I am writing a fic in the world of another author's world called Worlds Collide by WriteFF13. I have read her Worlds Collide bonus fic called On the Beat where Cloud and Lightning must capture the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku and interrogate her on the whereabouts of an Artefact to activate the Time Gate in Aerith's church._

_After reading her fic as well as the original Worlds Collide fic by her, this idea hit me. This time it is set in another game world. This world is a mix of both Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, since both of these games were created by Hideki Kamiya yet in two different game publishers, Capcom and Sega respectively._

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**Title: Worlds Collide: The Chaos Between Light and Darkness**

**Rating: M**  
**Reasons and Warning 1: Swearing, violence, blood and gore and sexual themes** **AKA lemons/limes; you have been warned!**  
**Warning 2: There will be OOCness!**

**Main pairings:**  
**Cloud Strife x Claire "Lightning" Farron**  
**Dante x Bayonetta/Cereza**

**Disclaimers:**  
**Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XIII belong to Square-Enix**  
**Devil May Cry belongs to Capcom**  
**Bayonetta belongs to Sega**  
**Worlds Collide is an original fictional series by WriteFF13 who is also the Beta and** **co-author for this fiction.**  
**Songs included here will be the OST for this fic which are basically all DMC games'** **OSTs and the Bayonetta OST. I do not have ownership of these tracks. They belong** **to their respective sound team and composers like Tetsuya Shibata, Masami Ueda,** **Rei Kondoh, HIRO, Masato Koda, Kento Hasegawa and other VGM composers.**

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_Let us begin in a whole new world of Final Fantasy… in another world that is!_

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**Prologue: Into A New and Strange World**

_**Historia Crux**_

Floating through the sea of Time, a spiky blonde delivery man named Cloud Strife and the former Guardian Corps sergeant Lightning Farron (her real name is Claire, something that is shared only between her younger sister Serah Farron and Cloud) floated for hours trying to fix paradoxes, not only from their two respective dimensions, but also from other worlds which they had never known at first but thanks to some gathered info through some of the locals, they had undergone many trials and claimed the Artefacts to activate the Time Gates and fix the anomalies scattered across the timeline. They had been blessed with the goddess Etro's power to time travel in the Historia Crux, an endless pathway through the strands of time itself. The two were accompanied by moogles: Mont Blanc and Mog. They acted as guides for the ex-soldiers and helped them retrieve the Artefacts required to open the time gates in Cloud's world.

The two ex-soldiers floated lazily side-by-side, as if lying in a bed, pondering if there was a possibility of traveling to even another alternate universe which neither would recognize.

"Monty," the pinkette called to one of the moogles, "what do you think would be the next otherworldly dimension the Historia Crux could offer?"

"Well…" Mont Blanc began his answer and tapped his small, white thumb on his chin. He shrugged. "I really don't know, kupo…"

"I guess we can leave that to fate," Cloud finished suddenly as he and Light rolled over into a swimming position.

On cue, Mog relayed something from the goddess Etro, whose gentle whispers were only heard by the moogles' ears.

"Cloud, Lightning," the moogle began, "Etro said that you two will once again go to another world."

"Another world?" the pinkette answered.

"Get some details on it," the blonde requested.

"Well," Monty began, "this world will be no ordinary world. It's no world neither of you have been in, kupo."

"We've been to a few worlds we've never been to," Cloud replied a bit coldly, "just get to the point."

Mog added, "This world is where angels and demons coexist with one another to judge humanity. Both hide in plain sight and some others disguise as humans, so be careful."

"You'll find three Artefacts there, kupo," Mont Blanc added.

"Three?" the ex-sergeant said, surprised. "I thought there was only one Artefact."

"Well, details about why there are three Artefacts will be known once we go there. But you should know who you should be protecting."

"Protecting? Who?" the ex-sergeant asked.

"The son of Sparda, the demon who rebelled against his own kin to save humanity two millenniums ago, who goes by the name Dante; and the Umbran Witch born from a forbidden love between a Witch and a Lumen Sage from half a millennium ago, whose name is Bayonetta. These two are the keys who are needed to get the Artefacts there," Monty answered.

"Who is after them?" the spiky blonde delivery man then asked

"An unknown cult," Mog answered for Monty this time. "They have been after those awhile, kupo. No one has details of who they are as of yet. Maybe we'll find out once we get there."

After hearing the stories, Cloud and Lightning decided they should travel to the demonic world of so-called "Dante" and "Bayonetta".

"Okay guys," Lightning began, "Take us to that world."

On cue, a light on the side of Historia Crux appeared before the two human guardians and the two moogles. A distorted ripple of light revealed what looked to be an abandoned city. The four 'swam' there and disappeared in the light. The sudden brightness was so blinding that they could not open their eyes anymore, but squeezed them shut. They felt as if they had been stunned by a flash bang due to so much light.

They were both knocked out by an unknown force as they sailed through the portal and into a new world.

* * *

Both ex-soldiers woke up, opened their eyes slowly and stood up from the ground by rocking back on their toes and pushing to their feet using the palms of their hands. Monty and Mont Blanc were lying down on the concrete ground and righted themselves, once again lifting off into their hovering positions. The two warriors and the two Moogles found themselves once again in a whole new world.

The place they landed on was indeed the abandoned town they had seen through the Historia Crux. From what they could tell, the city had recently undergone an attack. However, they could not find evidence on who and why, but one thing for sure was that either an angel or demon could've done this; there was no way an ordinary human, let alone a cultist, could even do such damage. There was plenty of damage: cuts, large holes and other kinds of damage marks on the doors.

Suddenly, Cloud sensed something ominous and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something was approaching him fast and hell-bent on killing him. With quick reflexes, the chocobo-head quickly grabbed one of his two side swords – Ascalon - and parried just in time to determine his would-be murderer.

The blonde immediately determined who the attacker was; human-like in appearance but its face had violent red eyes shaped eerily and its eye sockets, nose and mouth looked awfully horrid. Its hands and feet were also human clad in a purple cloak, albeit stiff and made out of nothing but sand. Its hands grasped a scythe the blonde had parried against. [1]

Lightning glanced over to see Cloud block a strike from an unknown entity and decided to aid him; drawing her weapon and sprinting for a blind-sided strike into the enemy's back. Then, more of the same enemies leaped out of nowhere and charged at them from all directions. A split second before the enemies could reach them, though, Cloud threw Ascalon to Lightning who drew Blazefire Saber and flicked the blade open. The blonde then got both Vigilante – the main base of the Fusion Swords – and Vendetta, the hollow blade.

_**[BGM cue: Devil May Cry 1 OST – Super Public Enemy]**_

Cloud and Lightning regrouped and charged the band of enemies from opposite directions. Cloud stepped forward and slashed one of the sand-made cloaked entities into four by swiftly slicing it vertically and horizontally. As Cloud made short work of the sand enemies, Light caught a sand monster by surprise by stabbing a deep gash into its chest with Ascalon and cut its head off with the Blazefire Saber, feeling the satisfaction when the sand collapsed and dispersed over her hands and onto the ground. When they killed them, sand exploded and fell to the ground in small heaps.

Six of those cloaked beings swung their scythes towards her, but compared to the soldier's inhuman speed and agility, they were no match for the seconds that it took the sand monsters to raise their scythes, Lightning had determined that individually they were weak, but strong in united numbers. She quickly flicked her Blazefire Saber into a gun and blasted three of them in the head, causing them to kneel down to the ground and, as they were about to lie down, they exploded into sand that floated away on the wind.

Suddenly, Cloud was slashed from behind and suffered a sizeable cut on the side, beneath his ribs. He spun around quickly but was surprised to find another sand creature. It was different from those that he and Lightning had fought. Its face wasn't hooded, but its head  
was shaped like the human skull. Its suit was a red suit akin to what a clown wears. Its scythe was shaped differently than the sand monsters', but the unique specialty of this monstrosity was its speed. [2]

As quickly as the first red-clad monster appeared, similar enemies broke through the walls in a flash of black light, swinging their scythes to determine if they hit their opponent, but missed. Cloud chucked Vendetta into the gut of one of the oncoming monsters, pinning it to the immediately burst into sand against the wall. Cloud ran to retrieve his sword in the wall and used Vigilante to slash any of the scythe-wielding monsters that got in his way. He retrieved the Hollow Blade and slashed an uppercut on the dark beings approaching on his side. He rushed to Lightning's side and they stood side-by-side, holding their blades firmly and watching the enemies with the hardened eyes of a soldier.

Suddenly, two of the red-clad monsters slashed the two fighters from behind, causing the latter's' muscles to react automatically and swing their swords 180 degrees, cutting down the enemies together.

"Sure you can handle these guys, Cloud?" Lightning said with a small smirk on her face.

Cloud plunged his sword deep into the stomach of another attacker, frowning at the sand that exploded in his face. "I know I can, but...you might need my help," he taunted.

Magic gathered on the tips of Lightning's fingers, letting of a small crackling sound. Her l'Cie brand lit brightly as adrenaline flooded through her veins; it was a familiar feeling...the feeling of battle.

"Guess we'll see who can cut down more enemies...let's move!" Lightning shouted, springing into action.

The two fought side-by-side: slashing, thrusting, striking, punching and kicking (shooting in Lightning's case) at every single monster. They received small wounds on the right for Light and the left for Cloud, but a minor wound like that mattered little to them.

Light blasted bullets, sometimes even penetrating through one of the clad creatures. She thrust Ascalon through the gut of one of the scythe adepts and then slashed another, cutting it cleanly in two.

Throughout the fight, after witnessing their appearance and malevolent intentions, Cloud and Lightning have determined what they are up against now…

_"Demons!"_ the thunderstorm duo exclaimed.

They were indeed truly demons. They showed no mercy on killing and hunting down human life, be it guilty or innocent. In their opinion, they shouldn't just hunt only the guilty and let the innocent live. That didn't matter when it came to demons.

Lightning tossed Ascalon back to Cloud as she switched her gunblade to gun-mode and fired bullets into the bodies of the purple and red demons. She performed a Tifa-worthy side-kick on a demon coming at her and pushed it back to the rest of the pack. Cloud threw Vigilante like a boomerang and let it cut the purple and red clad demons that turned into sand upon impact. The sword circled back and the handle landed in his hand and assembled Ascalon back to Vigilante.

Cloud then drew out his two back blades and put the two-third assembled sword aside on his back on one of the sword holsters behind his top.

_**[BGM Cue: Bayonetta OST – Angels Advent A]**_

Out of the blue, a bright light illuminated the sky. The two warriors were blinded once again by sudden lights. Then, they witnessed angelic beings descend from up above their heads, flapping feathery wings. When they landed they finally revealed themselves.

The angels indeed had angelic wings that sprouted from their backs with a wingspan of at least five feet. Their bodies were mostly gold and their monstrous faces were adorned with red eyes. Above their heads were extraordinary designs of the halos angels typically wear; the halos even hovered in the air. Some were armed with long golden staves with a circular head piece at the top and others wielded brass trumpets. Another group of angels were armed with black and gold flails. [3]

At first, the angels and demons looked like they would duke it out with each other. Suddenly, they faced the two warriors and began to charge and attack them, surprising the two ex-soldiers.

_**[BGM Cue: Bayonetta OST – Riders of the Light]**_

"What the fuck?!" Lightning exclaimed loudly in surprise, flicking her blade in front of her in a defensive stance.

"I thought angels and demons hate each other!" Cloud added also in surprise; today was an unusual day for him and his companion. The moogles were right; it is a world where angels and demons coexist to judge humanity.

Still perplexed, the two met the angel and demons' charge with fervor, hacking and slashing at the light and dark enemies. Both never expected that two opposing forces would have decided to work together for a similar cause.

They then dealt with the angels and demons attacking and charging at them. Both never expected that two opposing forces would have decided to work together for one cause that they may not like one bit.

Cloud lashed out with an out-in kick on the head while slashing the purple-clad devil cutting it in two with the Merciless back blade. However, the angel was armored and the blonde's attack barely left a small crack.

"What?!" the spiky blonde exclaimed. He decided to slice it up using the two back blades. As easily as it demolished the concrete surfaces of the buildings of Midgar against his battle with the one-winded angel, it made short work of the armor.

Cloud's aide alone wasn't enough, so Lightning resorted to summoning Odin. She cupped the rose crystal and pitched it high above the battlefield and slashed it with her blade. A bright pink pattern formed on the ground below her and she hovered over the summoning, watching as Odin's form took shape and he rose from the ground. The deity saw his mistress above him and caught her hand as she dived towards him; he gently threw her above him, allowing her to flip twice and land on her feet smoothly. Odin stood beside her and they drew their blades at the same moment as Lightning shouted, "Carve us a path!"

Odin provoked all the angels and demons to come attack him, distracting most of the enemies. However, some were still focused on the soldier pair. The deity activated Ullr's Shield and defended himself until he mustered enough strength to destroy them. Then, the Eidolon stood and forced them away upon emitting a shockwave from his body.

It was then Cloud's turn to summon his Eidolon that was summoned from the l'Cie brand that Etro blessed him with. Its location was above his left elbow, on his tricep exactly where the Stigma had infected him long ago. It was the shape of a wolf's head, much like the steel adornment on his shoulder pauldron. He summoned it out and smashed it with his right hand. The dust around his feet was blasted away and a magic circle appeared before him. Out came his Eidolon Fenrir, a black wolf with gold platings decorating his body. Cloud pointed to the angels and demons attacking him and shouted, "Get 'em, boy!", as if he was commanding a dog.

Across the battlefield, Lightning's white deity used his Skyward Sword to push and kill the demons and angels back as the pinkette casted random spells like Fire, Water, Blizzard and Thunder. The wolf then came to the aid of the white Eidolon and raked his claws rapidly until the demons in front of him were sliced into pieces for teppanyaki, except they all turned into sand.

Some of the angels were split into two, blood gushing out from their bodies. Some were cut off from their limbs, gushing out some blood from below the thighs.

The black wolf grabbed one of the scythe-wielding demons by his mouth and slammed it violently on the ground, turning it into sand. The white deity slashed his way through and he and the wolf stood back to back until they were surrounded by both demons and angels.

Suddenly, an angel with the trumpet blew out a note. Lightning wondered what the note did. It was headed for Cloud. Then, the realization hit her. It might be a shot that could greatly hurt him!

Reaching her hand out to the blonde, Lightning shouted, "Cloud! Look out!"

The blonde heard her plea and saw the incoming ball. He sidestepped to his left and the musical ball hit one of the red-clad demons, killing it as it turned into sand on the floor. Now he and Light knew that the balls of musical notes meant trouble for them.

Then, Cloud saw an angel armed with a flail swinging it around. His eyes were centered in front of Lightning who stood in front of him. His eyes grew wide and he reached his hand to warn her that she was being attacked. He shouted "Light! Behind you!" as the angel swung the spiked ball towards her. On the nick of time, she back-flipped and then landed with her right heel on the sand-covered concrete road. She countered the mace-wielding angel's attack with a shot on the head courtesy of Blazefire, leaving blood flowing out of the hole as it bursted into light. Another angel clad with the same weapon was about to do the same thing when the black wolf furiously sliced it into little bite-sized pieces.

Suddenly, more of the same angels and demons appeared, along with new demons came out, but these demons were different from those wielding scythes. Their bodies were burlap sacks filled with dark beetles and armed with executioner's blades fitted to their bodies. Some of the demons had it on one arm while others on one leg. [4]

The demon with the blade-mounted arm first swung at the pinkette, but its swing was slow. The demons with a blade for a leg performed acrobatic flips like Light. The pinkette dodged in time to perform a Blitz attack to counter it and some of its brethren along with it. Suddenly one of the bladed-legged demons did a spinning attack as if it performed ballet toward the ex-sergeant and cut her back, but she parried the blade away and shot it on its head. After witnessing their attack patterns, Light made the assumption that it was weak when alone, but deadly in mass numbers like the first demons they had encountered earlier, not to mention they swung more slowly than them. The ex-sergeant wanted to face-palm herself in disbelief knowing that numbers didn't mean a thing to her in battle as well as poor coordinated attacks, as with the PSICOM back in Cocoon; even Cloud agreed with her.

Odin then threw his sword like a boomerang and cut the blade-wielding demons into two, letting its bug sacs burst out as they crawl away from the battlefield. Fenrir's loud roar stopped the bugs on their tracks as the roar of Fenrir drew fear in them as they were being devoured one by one by the black wolf.

Cloud then placed the back blades on their blade holsters and drew both Vigilance – with Sidewinder and Ascalon attached – and Vendetta. The spiky blonde parried some of the blades with Vendetta and then countered it with a slash from Vigilance, cutting them into two. The demons' essences left their hosts as the bugs coming out from it crawled down on the ground. The blonde sees them and stomps on them as a person would a cockroach. The bugs retreat as more demons were sent.

Now a new demon approached. It looked like those clad in red and purple, but it was bare-naked. It also carried a round organic sack which the warriors expected to be something they should fear. Light fired at the round sphere and it, along with the demon, exploded. She knew now that it would be best if she would be the only one to blast that kind of demon with her gunblade in gun-mode. [5] The blonde realized that he is the only one in the duo not using guns, let alone remembering to bring some with him.

"Cloud, whatever you do, don't get close to it when its bag – or whatever it was – carrying explodes. I don't like collateral damage," Lightning explained about the demons and her dislike towards collateral damages.

Then, Cloud and Lightning ordered their Eidolons into Gestalt form. While the pinkette awaited her Eidolon to transform into her steed that left a trail of red rose petals and attacked her foes with the swords he wielded, Cloud also watched his wolf Eidolon transform into a motorbike with internal weaponry and compartments to store his swords. Their Eidolons' transformations were complete as Light jumped on the saddle and detached the Zansetsuken swords separately and wielded each in either hand and the chocobo-headed swordsman stored all his six swords as Fenrir opened the compartments and then closed it once they are all secured.

With their mounts on, the dynamic storm duo then slashed and burned away. Cloud drove his bike in a circular rotation that left a blazing trail burning his enemies away. He saw demons and angels behind him so he pushed a button that released small mines that exploded upon impact. Light then reattached her swords and emitted a shockwave that cut anything in its path into half.

More and more angels and demons of the same type were summoned. Now they were outnumbered two hundred fifty hundred to two. They wanted to retreat, but suddenly, red seals with a ghostly image of a human skull appeared before them as Odin whinnied to get back; Cloud saw the seal and applied Fenrir's brakes as he screeched to a halt. It would seem escape was inevitable for the two.

After furiously and ferociously attacking every angel and demon around them, the Eidolons were near their "rest time". So Lightning and Cloud readied their weapons, Odin's swords and Fenrir's wolf cannon respectively. Fenrir first fired a beam of wind to blow his foes away. Once the wind hit the surface, it created a tornado vortex and every angel and demon was sucked in. As every angel and demon in the vicinity was blown away by the tornado, Lightning decided she would add insult to injury. She and Odin got in the tornado – which thankfully they were never affected by the strong winds – and she performed Odin's Zansetsuken slash attack as red rose petals whipped around the tornado. All the enemies within the tornado were annihilated as sand and blood rained down around her. Their Eidolons were automatically dismissed when they gained their crystals back and dissolved into Lightning's and Cloud's l'Cie brands.

Light and Cloud stood side by side and concentrated their energy within them. As their auras grew even stronger, more and more demons and angels poured out. There were angels who were the bigger and smarter versions of the first angels they had seen. [6] With enough energy within them, they unleashed it and their clothing was replaced with their guardian armor, crafted by Etro herself.

With Light's knightly gunblade, she first put it in gun form and condensed energy into it. Wielding a crystalline Zweihander, Cloud slammed it on the ground to unleash a beam of energy that knocked every foe back that threw sand demons against the wall; the blade- armed demons damaged but not killed. The angels were forced to retreat to the air.

If they thought that the demon seal wasn't enough for them, they saw a golden circular seal. Light lifted her gunblade and fired a bullet, but nothing happened. They were completely trapped!

With no choice but to fight, Cloud threw one of the side crystal short-swords to Lightning. With two swords in their hands, the duo charged sideways and slashed each and every angel and demon in their way. Light charged at the bigger angel and unleashed her ultimate move..."Legion of One", a flurry of acrobatic kicks and elegant slashes that ended with a fiery overhead slash. The angel's armor broke, and she planted a kick to its exposed gut and knocked it back to the other angels and demons like a bowling ball, causing them to burst into sand and light as well as into small dark bugs.

More demons came, gathering besides the army that had already surrounded Cloud and Lightning. This time, Cloud had the upper hand when he swung the crystalline sword Ultima Weapon in circles.

"Stars, rain down!" he shouted as small meteorites rained down as what he commanded on all the foes in the area he had marked with his glowing cyan Mako-exposed eyes which were augmented and in sync to his knightly powers. All foes within it were turned into ashes.

Suddenly, their knightly armor faded as they returned to their normal clothing. It seemed that their godly powers lasted only temporarily... seeing this disadvantage; the large angel ordered his smaller brethren and the demons to attack simultaneously. Wanting to counterattack, Cloud and Lightning then drew their weapons and continued reducing their numbers. As they did so, they were attacked in the process and as a result, they received cuts, bruises and blunt force trauma. Cloud's cloth protecting his left arm shredded and so did the red cape attached to Light's coat. Then, Cloud's zipper was also destroyed, exposing his scarred torso which added new scars into its collection. To make matters worse for the strawberry-blonde, her coat was also ripped on the front, exposing the sleeveless turtleneck showing her midriff off with a shining silver navel piercing; now her middle has been scarred too.

After receiving numerous blows and finishing almost every last demon and angel as well as resorting to their Eidolons once again and finishing them off wave by wave, Cloud and Lightning were completely overwhelmed. Their muscles screamed in pain and their arms shook from the weight of their swords, dragging the warriors' bodies down in exhaustion. The spiky blonde first knelt down on one knee while holding on to the completed Fusion Swords, as did the pinkette when she plunged Blazefire Saber in sword-mode in the ground. They panted and were running out of a plan to escape or continue fighting. They chose the latter, but their bodies said 'no'. They lied down on the ground and coughed so much blood out, wincing when they felt their liquefied life forced leaving their bodies. They struggled to get up, but it was in vain... the only thing left for them to do is embrace death. They wanted to let their family and friends know that they did not want to go down without a fight. The two Mogs protested against what would be their death, who had been hovering high above the battlefield in safety.

"What are you two thinking, kupo?!" Mog asked in fury

"You can't accept defeat now!" Monty added in the same manner as Mog

"Think of your sister looking for you, Light!"

"Think of your friends looking for you, Cloud!"

They collapsed on the ground and accepted their fate, bloodied, beaten and all; multiple angels and demons leapt towards them and held their weapons (scythes and staves) for a downward strike to finish them.

_I guess this is it… I'm sorry Serah, Noel…_ Lightning thought seeing what seemed to be her fate.

_Tifa… everyone… I have to go… I'm sorry…_ Cloud thought seeing the same thing as Lightning.

The two warriors lied there on the barren ground and held each other's hands and weakly grasped their weapons lying down on the ground besides them, but show no sign of further resistance when their enemies flip forward and swing their blades towards them. Lightning rolled her body to face Cloud's and held him in a warm embrace, the same kind of embrace she had given to Serah after Cocoon was saved. Cloud returned the embrace as he had felt the same warmth with Tifa; it was tight because deep down, he felt the touch of Light's large breasts (which thankfully were smaller than Tifa's huge ones) and felt guilty that he liked it while locked in an embrace, making him blush. Back to the battle, they have accepted their inevitable defeat together as they face their final destiny...

_**[BGM cue: DMC3 OST – Continue]**_

**Could this really be the end for Cloud Strife and Lightning Farron, the two __****guardians of Valhalla****? Is there anyone who can save them now?**

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Notes:

[1]**Hell Pride**, the first main cannon fodder demon from DMC3; one of the Seven Hells.

[2]**Hell Lust**, the faster, more cunning, more aggressive and sleeker cannon fodder from DMC3; one of the Seven Hells.

[3]**Affinity**, the first main cannon fodder angel from Bayonetta.

[4]**Scarecrow (Arm)** and **Scarecrow (Leg)**, the first main cannon fodder demons from DMC4 which are armed with an executioner's blades on one arm and leg respectively as their names suggest.

[5]**Hell Wrath**, the cannon fodder of DMC3 that explodes when it drops its carrying sac or shot by ranged attacks; one of the Seven Hells.

[6]**Applaud**, the larger version of the Affinity from Bayonetta and usually leads the army of Affinities.

And for Cloud's Etro's Knight clothing, think of his "Steady Light" costume in Dissidia 012 when he was a reluctant Warrior of Chaos, but his armlets and gloves are gauntlets and his white boots are iron greaves. His pants are now chain leggings and his top is obsidian armor. His SOLDIER belt has Grace of Etro writing that says "He who conquers darkness". Also, his knight weapon is Ultima Weapon (Dissidia version), but it also works like the Fusion Swords, as it has a large crystal sword covering two more blades, two crystal side swords, two crystal gladius and its main blade is actually made out of obsidian.

* * *

_So what do you think of this fic idea I am also doing with another author named WriteFF13?_ _And the other reason why I wanted to do this fic is that I love the main two pairings for this_ _story so much since I played these games since I first played them and grew to love them!_

_Next chapter: Here come Dante and Bayonetta!_

_Oh, and by the way, since WriteFF13 knows more of WC more than I do since she made it_ _first, I leave her on most parts of it, but parts of DMC and Bayonetta are left here too._

* * *

_A note from WriteFF13:_

_I hope you all enjoyed the first part of the prologue of Worlds Collide: The Chaos Between_ _Light and Darkness. For clarification purposes, Devil Hunter Kira F Sparda's fic does not_ _necessary follow all elements included in my Worlds Collide series. Extended fight scene_ _courtesy of me and Kira; I was the Beta for grammar and extra details regarding the fight_ _scene in particular and adjectives._

_So until then, R&R and Write on,_  
_WriteFF13_

* * *

**_Chapter written by:_**  
**_Devil Hunter Kira F Sparda_**

**_Beta and co-written as well as Worlds Collide original concept by:_**  
**_WriteFF13_**


	2. Prologue p2: The Hunter & The Witch

_Here comes "Worlds Collide: The Chaos Between Light and Darkness" Prologue Part 2! Ladies and gentlemen, here come Dante and Bayonetta to aid Cloud and Lightning! Don't think I would kill Cloud and Light that easily in the previous chapter; they are too hard to die and, if I do kill them in one chapter, lots of you Cloud, Lightning or even fellow CloudxLightning pairing fans would troll me for that!_

_Now that I have mentioned the names of the enemies in the previous chapter as my end notes, I will have to mention their names within the fic starting from this chapter since both Dante and Bayonetta have arrived and they have knowledge of the enemies they have met as well as Dante's signature moves, like High Time, Stinger, Twosome Time, Rain Storm, etc. and Bayonetta's combos and weapons._

**Legal disclaimers still apply and you should heed to my warnings due to the content rating of this fic as well as expecting OOCness from any of Dante, Bayonetta, Cloud and/or Lightning, especially later in future chapters.**

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**Prologue P2: The Hunter and the Witch**

Monty and Mog could only watch in horror when they witnessed the two warriors in tattered clothing lying down on the ground and embracing each other and faced what seemed to be an inescapable death… The two warriors on the ground closed their eyes tightly and held each other tighter so they could at least be at peace…

**Or so they thought…**

Suddenly, they heard sounds of gunfire; while in their embrace they opened their eyes, let go of each other and rolled away from one another, lying down beside one another with joined hands. They witnessed explosions of sand and angels bursting into light. They looked around to locate the source of the constant amount of gunshots, and found two figures on either side.

_**[BGM Cue: Bayonetta OST – Opening Demo Theme]**_

When Cloud and Lightning turned to face sideways and back-to-back they found two people (one on each side) –a man and a woman – wielding two pistols each and holding the barrel ends just inches from their mouths. Steam spiraled out and both blew it away on cue.

The man standing in front of Cloud had white hair the color of snow brushed down on his head. He had blue eyes that were similar to the two ex-soldiers, but not the same vibrant tint of blue. His red coat had a stylishly western look with coattails hanging below his knees; covering a shirt that was buckled across his chest and twice on his midriff; zipped down above the belt on his chest. His pants were brownish-black, red below his knees and above his feet, and on the center of his waist was a belt buckle. His footwear consisted of black leather shoes that always shone despite the situation. His hands were covered by fingerless gloves. On his back was a large sword – almost on par with the Buster Sword in Cloud's personal opinion – with a stylish hilt and skulls of both a human and a demon on each side of the rain guard. The blade was made of peculiar steel that hardly rusted or broke due to usage. Cloud thought its design was elegant in comparison to the bluntness of his own weapon. In his hands were two .45 caliber pistols with the words "Ebony and Ivory" engraved in articulate writing. The other side read "For: Tony Redgrave" on the top and "By .45 Art Works" on the bottom in smaller writing; its handles had images of a woman in the Victorian era. Lightning studied his guns because she had knowledge of weaponry in general, be it pre-modern or futuristic; they were a pair of M1911 .45 caliber pistols designed to combat evil. Cloud too also remembered his study of weaponry back when he was a Shinra Infantry Guard prior to meeting the man that made him his own legacy, Zack Fair.

The woman who stood in front of Lightning was a very beautiful one possessing a slender, more curvaceous and taller figure than Lightning's. She has raven-black hair wrapped into a sort of beehive intertwined with two scarlet ribbons and gold chains; her hair, straight as could be, was tucked under her arm sleeves and followed the movement of her arms; it also seemed to merge into her outfit and flow down the front side of her cat suit. Her face was a perfect heart shape with gray eyes and a mole on the bottom of her left cheek close to her kissable lips.

She wore a skin-tight suit that hugged her perfect figure; an opening on her chest revealed a strange golden ornament with a red jewel in the center. The black cat suit had a rose design stitched on her abdomen with gold chains stitched into the outfit, as well as long white gloves buckled up around her elbows and red on the inside of her palms. Her heels were a black and gray with guns attached to the heels. The eyeglasses that framed her mysterious eyes had butterfly wing designs on the lenses. Cool golden-cat earrings adorned her ears. Four gold symbols were attached to her hair at the end of the golden chains and hung freely in her hair; three of the symbols were crescent moons but the fourth was a strange symbol neither warrior could recognize. In her hair above her ears was a piece of rosemary on the left and a beautiful red rose on the right, tucked perfectly in her black hair.

She held a pistol in her right hand still aimed at her dead target; it was red, double-barreled with a colored gem on the handle, which differed for the four different guns on her hands and feet. They were engraved with the words "Scarborough Fair" and a charm attached but with different designs each. A small white stick was hanging out of her lips, and as she smiled, the two warriors could see she was sucking on a pink lollipop.

Both the blonde and the pinkette knew these two were the people they were looking for, the people they were tasked to protect; they had seen them in their visions from Etro. They were indeed Dante the demon hunter extraordinaire and son of the legendary dark knight Sparda; and the Umbran Witch, Bayonetta, born from both a witch and a Lumen Sage.

"Hey!" the snow-haired man by the name of Dante began, "you guys must be the ones we've seen in our visions!"

"So, you knew?" Lightning panted, "then you two must be the ones we saw in our visions too, the ones we're supposed to protect…"

"Dante, one of the twin sons of the legendary dark knight Sparda, kupo," Mont Blanc marveled as he and Mog reappeared in the scene, looking at the aforementioned man.

"And Bayonetta, an Umbran Witch born from a forbidden love between a witch and a Lumen Sage five hundred years ago," Mog finished and gazed at the woman clad in black and wearing eyeglasses who was looking at the moogles with her head cocked in curiosity.

The black-clad witch pulled her sweet treat from her mouth with a _pop_ and finally spoke to Lightning. "You must be Lightning Farron," she began with a strange accent, and walked towards the ex-sergeant.

"And you're Cloud Strife, right?" Dante asked the spiky blonde he faced.

"We are," the blonde stoically answered in the middle of a labored breath. "We're actually here to help you."

Seeing their wounds and torn up clothing after hearing what he had said, Dante snickered at the irony in their current situation. "Well, looks like you two need help now."

Dante was indeed right; Cloud and Lightning really needed their help. Suddenly, their l'Cie brands glowed brightly and they held their hands tighter and cast Curasa, using their combined powers to heal each other. Their cuts closed, the bigger ones becoming new scars, and their clothing mended back to its former glory. The cloth protecting Cloud's left arm was repaired and Lightning's red cape was stitched back together again. All damage done to their clothes were finally repaired and Light's coat only exposed her navel with a silver piercing on it; Cloud's scarred torso was covered and the zipper up to his neck again.

Amazed by their strange powers, the half-demon and the witch approached them. It was part of their visions that with these powers, they were messengers from otherworldly realms.

Dante and Bayonetta offered their hands to the weary pair once they were fully healed. The two ex-soldiers accepted the help gratefully and stood strong once again, grasping their weapons with a firm grip.

_**[BGM Cue: Devil May Cry 3 – Taste the Blood]**_

Suddenly, as Cloud and Lightning stood up, an army of Hell Prides, Hell Lusts, Hell Wraths, Scarecrows, Affinities and Applauds appeared before them surrounded the group. The Applaud wielded what looked like a bow fired an arrow, sending it straight for Bayonetta's heart.

"No time for pillow talk, my new friends," the witch being targeted remarked. "We have unwelcomed guests with us." She smiled a dreadfully beautiful smile and popped the lollipop back in her mouth.

"If that's the case," the hunter began, "let's start the party!" finished in excitement and drew both Ebony and Ivory with his arms crossing over one another, a signature gesture he had performed ever since he became a demon hunter.

_The flinch in your eye calls you a bluff._

Sensing the arrow flying towards her, Bayonetta flashed her glasses and dove into a perfect arc over the arrow, plucking it right out of thin air as time slowed down around her and an unseen clock thundered over the battlefield, ticking off the previous seconds of her "Witch Time" ability. She saw Dante, Cloud and Lightning charging slowly but her focus was on the Applaud.

She thrust the arrow through its head and punched it four times in mach speed and shouted, _"I've had enough!"_

She finished her flurry of strikes with a kick that stunned him to the ground, summoning the feet of her demon Madama Butterfly. The hair that melted into her outfit swirled around her and formed the blue and purple heel of the Wicked Weave and her Witch Time ended as soon as it began.

_"Hah!" _she cried, and brought her heel down on an angel's head, causing it to crumple to the ground.

With the large angel down on the ground and dizzy, she stomped on his body and danced around the creature, firing the revolvers attached to her heels. All the angels and demons moved to attack her white-haired partner and her two new friends behind her. Keeping an eye on the others in the battle, she thought about how similar this situation was to her encounter with the younger version of herself, Cereza, and Luka Redgrave, the son of the late journalist Antonio Regrave. It also happened to be the name Dante had taken on; Tony Redgrave. [1] She didn't know these people at all except for glimpses of them in their visions, but she felt she could trust them. It was the same feeling she had felt when she met Cereza and Cheshire for the first time.

_Feel free to die when you had enough._

Dante drew his sword Rebellion and executed three slashes on a Hell Lust. He saw another Hell Lust go to approach him with a dashing slash from its scythe, so he plunged Rebellion in sonic speed, a move he called _Stinger_. As soon as the Hell Lust hit the half-demon, Rebellion came first and the Hell Lust was knocked back against the wall and exploded into sand. A Hell Wrath appeared behind him, but Dante's yellow aura appeared and he shouted, "Trickster!", dashing back and drew his twin pistols Ebony and Ivory; he started firing on the semi-naked demon and it exploded, taking down any other angels and demons around it.

_Useless cause is breaking your back._

The witch had accumulated enough magical power to execute torturous pain on the foe, be it angel or demon. Moving quickly on her heels, she attacked an Affinity from behind, delivering four punches and ended the combo with blurred kicks, shouting, "Get out!"

Then, she summoned a guillotine and chanted, _"PIR ZIXLAY!"_ _Heavenly ones all stirred up!_

A wooden object winked into existence, with two pillars on the sides of a podium and a set of steel blades hanging above the platform. The Umbran Witch kicked it repeatedly until the Affinity was completely set in the executing device and its head on the platform. Squawking in fear, the Affinity tried to break free of the invisible bonds holding it down, but Bayonetta's heel forced him down. She snapped her fingers with a _snap_ and the blades fell, slicing the angel's head off like paper. The Affinity burst into light and the guillotine was destroyed in the process. Bayonetta spotted the Affinity's golden staff and flicked it into her hand with the tip of her heels, weighing it in her hands.

She turned around to face the other enemies and licked her lollipop teasingly, engaging battle with another horde of angels.

_Your life will end when you attack._

Lightning was in awe of Bayonetta's ability to torture her foes by summoning execution devices as if she was a dominatrix. Hearing the screech of angels and demons, the soldier snapped out of her reverie and faced her own enemies, taunting them by gesturing them over to her. Six Hell Prides, three Scarecrows with bladed arms and legs each, a Hell Wrath, two Hell Lusts, five Affinities and an Applaud were provoked by her and attacked her relentlessly. However, they were blinded by their rage and their attacks lacked accuracy. She swiftly cut their arms and limbs off, turning them into sand, cutting their bladed arms and legs off as well as disarming them of their weapons. Lightning grabbed a golden flail which an Affinity had dropped and used it against them. It wasn't the first time she wielded other kinds of weapons before, for in her travels with Cloud through the Historia Crux, she learned to use other kinds of weapons, like a spear, rapier, assault rifle, a high-powered sniper rifle, and other weapons not known to her world. It was something that she was taught as a soldier and something she realized she must learn to do if she were to survive the oncoming trials.

_Make your move, make your stand,  
Make the win, (Ha!) like you can!_

Bayonetta then thrusted the angel's staff in the ground.

"Lightning dear, you might want to stand back," the witch warned her new friend.

The witch raised her hand and drew an intricately patterned circle in mid-air, stopping only when it was connected and glowing with a steady purple haze. Just as a horde of angels and demons were about to reach her, she leap through the portal and vanished from sight, only to appear behind her enemies. She took them by surprise and flipped into a handstand, aiming upside down and shooting with her feet; it was a wonder she didn't lose her balance once.

After shooting with her heels, she used the staff and firmly grabbed it in her hands, defying gravity to lift her legs up and use it like a stripper's pole, spinning around, kicking oncoming demons and angels coming at her. They tried it again until they perished from the sharp kick of her high heels. As soon as every enemy tried to lay their hands on her they were beaten into oblivion, and the pole disappeared. The witch did not mind because she knew every enemy she encountered dropped their weapons in some cases and giving her the advantage to use it against its former wielders.

_See the war, see me rule,  
See the mirror, you'll see a fool!_

In another part of the battle, seeing Cloud only using his swords, Dante decided to lend him his father's pistols, Luce and Umbra, which he brought along. He remembered one of his partners Trish saying she may not need those pistols and she only served as a house keeper in his office. Back to the battle, the red-clad demon hunter shouted, "Hey, Cloud! Use these!" and tossed the pistols to him.

Cloud placed his weapons on his back and nimbly plucked the guns out of the air, his gloved hands tightening around the cool alloy.

_To take me out you must fight like a man.  
(To take me out you must fight like a man!)_

"Do you know how to use guns, Spiky?" the crimson-clad half-breed then asked.

"Of course," the blonde replied "I _was_ a soldier after all."

He pointed the guns on two Scarecrows, lined the enemies up along the notch at the top of the gun's barrel, and blasted bullets continually until they staggered towards him. He traded Luce for Avenger and holstered the gun into a side pocket. He slashed the weakened Scarecrow-leg by first cutting off his bladed leg and blasting it on the head, letting the black bugs scatter away from its dying host. He replicated the same move on the Scarecrow-arm mercilessly.

_You've yet to prove that you can.  
(You've yet to prove me that you can!)_

Now accustomed to the twin handguns, Cloud blasted a large Affinity holding a large trombone. The angel blew it and a large beam emitted out from the musical instrument, stepping back from the force it exerted. He and Lightning dodged it just in time, as did Dante and Bayonetta, causing the latter to morph into Witch Time once again and dispatch her enemies. After dodging it, they didn't see Bayonetta but they saw blurred flashes of her form beating it to a pulp amidst whiplashes and exhilarated laughs. The angel became weak when its armor fell off, revealing red flesh. The witch held a whip she called Kusheldra appeared when her Witch Time expired. Cloud and Light were amazed by her feat of slowing down time whenever she dodged an attack, something they could only do in their most powerful forms.

When he saw Dante emit a blue flash and shout, "Gunslinger!" and firing his guns in two directions, it reminded him back when he was with Lightning.

They had once visited a world where people believed emotions were the cause of war and suffering; militarized people called clerics used two guns as a martial art called Gun-Kata [2]. Cloud tried to replicate the same fighting style by firing Luce in front of his foe, a Hell Lust, and firing Umbra on his left, a Hell Pride; his left hand pointed in front of him while his right hand blasted at a Scarecrow (Leg) stands.

Now he could use the style of Gun Fu.

_I see your might and it compares to something.  
(I see your might and it compares to something!)_

Seeing the spiky blonde now replicating his moves, the white-haired half-demon jumped up in the air, emitting a red magical circle on his feet. Once he was high enough, he flipped upside down and spun in dizzying circles, unleashing the bullets of Ebony and Ivory rapidly on the foes below him.

_Huh,_ Cloud thought seeing Dante's move called Rain Storm, _He really is inhuman. I can do a lot of things, but even I can't do __THAT__._

A red aura sparked to life around Dante. He shouted, "Swordmaster!" and switched to a pair of steel gauntlets and greaves while wearing a mask covering his nose and mouth and a sort of backpack on his upper back, dubbed Gilgamesh.

When he landed, he emitted a shockwave that caused ripples in the ground to knock two Affinities, Hell Prides and Scarecrows (Arm) to the ground. Seeing the enemies vulnerable, the blonde retrieved Vendetta and plunged it deep into a Hell Pride's torso, watching it spew nothing but sand. Dante switched back to Rebellion and spun it at propeller-like speeds to lift his target – an Affinity – in the air, slicing its wings off. The hunter added some insult to injury by spinning his sword and neatly slicing the creature into diced chunks. The move he called Prop, and followed by another move similar to it but more powerful and lasted longer called Shredder.

_That is something is nothing.  
(That is something is nothing!)_

The Umbran Witch spotted a completely stunned angel and danced over to it, stomping on top of it and pranced around as if she were tap-dancing. Every time she lifted from the ground she fired a round of shots, spraying her enemies with bullets.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lightning could see Bayonetta firing her guns from her heels; Lightning wanted to know how she did that with such grace, but would have to ask later. She spotted a blue-clad Applaud and sprinted towards it and feigned left when the angel swung at her with its weapon; she immediately stepped forward into her deadliest move – _Army of One._ It was a technique she learned on her journey to defy the gods and her fate as a "cursed" Pulse l'Cie, the so-called "enemy of Cocoon". Tossing the blade into her right hand, Lightning slashed at the Applaud and used the momentum of the swing to plant a side-kick in its stomach and caused the angel to fall to its knees. She followed it with another cut and then leaped into the air to land a crushing blow to its skull, finishing it off with a flurry of strikes and a final strike that caused the angel to explode on impact.

On her left, she spotted three Hell Lusts zooming towards her with their agile and aggressive scythe slashes. The ex-Guardian Corps soldier landed a hard side-kick on the exposed middle of the Applaud and sent it crashing into the three red-clad sand demons against a wall; the burst into beams of light and sand, blood dripping down the wall. Then, another Applaud armed with a bow transformed it to two whip swords. The angel turned its swords sideways to slash the pinkette, but she dodged in the nick of time and countered with three gunshots and sinking the blade deep into its head, killing it instantly. The dead angel burst into white light and blood came bursting forth, dappling Lightning's white uniform and her face with scarlet droplets.

On Bayonetta's side of the battlefield, she ceased her dancing and resorted to another Torture Attack. She raised her arms above her head and chanted, _"CRNON!"_

The ground shook around her and cracks formed underneath her feet, but she was safe. Then, the arms from hell burst out of the ground and bound the angel; next, she summoned a tombstone and it fell down on the angel's head, easily cracking its fleshy skull and staining the grave marker with its scarlet blood. The arms of hell retreated, but one of them gave Bayonetta a comical thumbs-up to prove that she and Dante had demonic allies in the Demon World. Dante's father, Sparda, had allies who shared a common cause with him that were willing to help out his surviving twin son and the Umbra Witch as well.

In the middle of her fight Lightning looked over to catch a glimpse of demonic arms giving a casual thumbs-up from the ground to Bayonetta; her eyebrow twitched. She figured there might be some sort of alliance between the demons and the witch and devil hunter in some cases. It was something she had to remember to share with Cloud after the battle.

Bayonetta switched her footwear from two of her trademark pistols to a pair of ice skates and set off across the battlefield, leaving icy trails of crystals as she jumped and whirled, slaying her enemies with ease. She dubbed them the Odette.

She skated her way around the enemies, firing off rounds of bullets from her handguns. Few armed Affinities struggled to break free from their icy binds, Dante rubbed salt into the wound by conjuring a light blue nun chuck with three rods attached by a ring in its center, named Cerberus. He smashed it on the ground and created an icy wave and with a shout, _"Chew on this!"_

The ice crept into the bodies of the Affinities and froze the very blood that pulsated through their heavenly veins. Cloud then sliced the frozen angels in two horizontally and the ice break and burst into light. Then, musical note balls zoomed straight towards him, so the half-demon slammed Cerberus harder as a wall of ice surrounding and shouted, "It's cool," which shielded him from the magical balls of energy. In reaction, the gold balls turned dark violet deflecting the energy back at them. When the Affinities armed with the trumpets saw their own projectile deflected back against them, they panicked and tried to flee, but it was too late for them to evade it and the notes nailed them right in their privates. They fell to the ground in pain – who knew angels were so sensitive – but their pain was short-lived, and they burst into light.

Bayonetta saw Dante armed with the three-pointed nun chuck and summoned hers, but normally two-pointed, called the Sai-Fung. Now the supernaturally powered pair swung their nun chucks on an Applaud each. They swung the rods around, hitting and smashing the Angel with blunt damage. The similar moves they used paid tribute to their favorite martial artist who had done this in the past. [3]

Cloud and Lightning were very amazed that their supernatural abilities could actually defend themselves. But this did not mean they shouldn't aid them because they did not know of this unknown cult after those two and what connection they have with the Artefacts.

Etro's guardians molded back to fighting positions. Cloud lent Lightning Sidewinder; she accepted it and wielded it Blazefire. On her side, she slashed away at one Hell Lust who was about to approach her with its dashing slash but was countered. She stabbed the red-clad demon in its gut and fired its head with Blazefire's gunshot. The impact turned the malevolent being into absolute sand. Cloud jumped above the pinkette and performed Braver–his signature overhead slash–to a speedy Hell Lust that was approaching Lightning. The ex-sergeant saw three Hell Prides and plunged the short sword through the gut of the first, blasted the second and third twice and then thrust the blade upwards until its head was split into two. The three demons turned into sand when it landed on the concrete, covering the ground in tan grains.

_Time to figure, time to sin,  
Your time's done when you begin.  
Live for suffer, live for revenge.  
Now your life comes to an end._

Suddenly, six Hell Wraths appeared in six directions and advanced together. Dante knew this wasn't a good plan, so he pulled out a long green rifle capable of piercing even through the thickest of armor; Dante called it Spiral. He first created a blue flash and shouted, _"Gunslinger!"_ and pointed the rifle's barrel on the ground.

"That's not how you use a rifle!" Lightning exclaimed.

"Relax, Lightning! I know what I'm doing! Stand back!" the white-haired hunter replied.

_Idiot_, Lightning thought. _He'll probably shoot himself in the foot._

When she thought of those words coming from him, Lightning immediately thought of fellow Pulse l'Cie Snow Villiers, her soon-to-be brother-in-law - his attitude, his cockiness, and the similar looks... except Dante was a half-demon and Snow...a hero in the basic terms. Back to the son of Sparda who fired a bullet from the rifle watching the projectile ricochet around random objects, he shouted "Fire!"

"Don't wanna get in that bullet's way!" he warned them.

The bullets first penetrated the Hell Wrath behind Bayonetta, who tossed a quick look behind her, but all she could see was fire. She spotted Spiral's bullet immediately, but she dodged in time to active her Witch Time. She watched where the bullet would go next, and it was heading for the Hell Wrath on Lightning's right. Her Witch Time deactivated and her prediction came true. Next, the bullet ricocheted on an abandoned boarding house and past Cloud. He didn't even notice the Hell Wrath that was going for him from behind; so he looked back and found only a blaze on the road. Dante emitted a silvery white aura and shouted, _"Quicksilver!"_

Energy built up in his right hand and time slowed down; the half-demon released the growing energy and shouted, _"Stand still!"_

He saw the bullet go past Lightning target a Hell Wrath on her right. He deactivated his Time Lag and the bullet went straight for its organic explosive sac. The bullet ricocheted near the last Hell Wrath but he thought he missed him only for it to ricochet on a broken pipe and landed on the sac it was carrying, exploding into shards.

While in the middle of slashing through an angel, Lightning was surprised at Dante's actions.

_Dante's power is incredible...it's so different __than__ the powers of a l'Cie_. _He reminds me of Snow, but he's got his own brand of fighting as well as being an excellent gunslinger and swordsman._

Light refocused on the battle and casted Thundaga on the surrounding angels and demons around her, sending bright shocks of sparks racing through their bodies. She saw a Hell Wrath but with three Hell Prides and four Scarecrows; this grouping was a mistake. She channeled ice energy onto her gunblade and flicked it into a gun. Once charged enough, she released a sharp needle of ice straight onto the explosive sac, killing all demons within it.

_Taste the blood, taste your fate.  
Swallow your pride with your hate.  
Your last breath, your last dance,  
The last of all in your command._

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Time I show you how to _really _dance," Bayonetta stated, her heels donned with her signature pistols.

She fell to the floor and twisted her body into impossible moves, moving her body to an unknown beat. The guns on her feet shot indiscriminately at an Applaud commandeering a squad consisting of six Hell Prides, two Hell Lusts, two Affinities with staves and two others with a flail and trumpet. The witch moved in to dance, or rather kick, around the commanding Applaud armed with a long staff. She once again accumulated enough magic to torture it into submission. She ceased dancing and slinked in front of the large blue-clad angelic being and gave it an enticing wink, flashing her glasses. With the angel distracted she summoned an execution device behind it and chanted, _"BIAH MICALP!"_

The angel looked back, but its distraction allowed the witch to strongly kick it into a spiked-lined coffin. The angel struggled to break free but the witch shut the doors. A second later the coffin burped the angel's staff out, and Bayonetta twirled it with her hands, smiling devilishly.

Cloud noticed the witch's impressive feat. He and Lightning could handle her, but if they ever got into a long battle, Cloud knew it would be tough. Suddenly, he heard Lightning in trouble and moved to help her.

The blonde saw the pinkette use Sidewinder against a Hell Lust's gut while blasting against the Hell Prides and several Hell Lusts who were trying to aid their comrade. She blasted them on the head, but missed the two red-clad demons when they flipped back and swiped at her.

Not to be outdone, Lightning snapped her index finger and thumb together, activating her Grav-con Unit, which gave her temporary control over gravity; electrifying purple sparks raced all along her body and her feet lifted from the ground. She let go of the pierced Hell Lust and kicked it against a wall behind her and jumped high before the two Hell Lusts could hit her. At the right height, she flipped her body upside down and shot them dead in their tracks; sand exploded like fireworks around her.

_Knees in the blood with your crying pleas,  
Sway in your sorrow, bathe in your fear.  
Clear the mind of the righteousness suffered.  
Witness the moment your failures prosper!_

One final wave of enemies appeared, composed of ten Hell Prides, six Hell Lusts, eight Affinities, four Hell Wraths, eight Scarecrow Arms, eight Scarecrow Legs and three Applauds.

The Applaud with the transformable weapon crushed its weapon in the ground; blades erupted and sliced through rock and dirt and heading towards the quartet. All four dodged it in the nick of time; however, Cloud and Light were slightly damaged by the rising blades that shredded their clothing partially. Then the ex-sergeant provided cover fire to her blonde partner while he approached it with Vendetta and Luce. The angel tried its best to block all of the bullets, but it was hit in its weak spots. With her Grav-con Unit still activated, Lightning performed a hard dropkick, sending it staggering in Cloud's direction. Unflinchingly, the blonde impaled the angel with a devastating Limit Break finisher - Climhazzard. Cloud was left with the enemy.

"Try using it like a snowboard or something," the hunter suggested.

Cloud was confused at first, so he put his right foot on the ground and then pushed himself forward with his other foot on the demon, surprised to find that it moved along the ground easily. The blonde actually had a fun ride and proceeded to zoom around the battlefield. Dante waved his hand lazily and decided to teach him a more advanced technique.

"Watch this!" he told him and knocked a Hell Lust down with his diving and splitting Helm Breaker technique stepped on it. The youth in him from back in the time his twin brother Vergil "invited him to his party;" before naming his shop _Devil May Cry_ returned and he replicated what Cloud did earlier. This time he drew Ebony and Ivory and spun around along with the crimson-clad demon, blasting any angel or demon trying to kill him. After that, he kicked himself off the ride and crushed it against a concrete wall, killing it in an explosion of sand. The blonde who watched it while riding a Hell Pride was grudgingly impressed, so he faced his own enemy and then kicked him off, slamming it against the wall.

Then, the hunter brought out his trusty hunting sawn-off shotgun Coyote-A and emitted a blue aura. _"Gunslinger!"_

He fired a shot up close and personal against the face of an Applaud. The divine being spurted blood from its head and burst into light. He was surrounded by Scarecrows but he swung the shotgun around like using Cerberus, buck shots scattering all around him. The demons fell easily.

_**[BGM cue: Bayonetta OST - Dance with Jeanne]**_

The quartet danced around and used their weapons to decimate their opponents. First, Dante fired Ebony and Ivory in two directions. Bayonetta fired in three ways - two with her hands and one with her left heel and fired on an Affinity, Hell Pride and a Scarecrow respectively. They continued to dance around, displaying an elegant display of gun-kata and fireworks from their guns.

While the hunter and the witch enjoyed the battle, Cloud and Lightning danced with their blades using the former's blades more. Cloud swung with Vendetta and Vigilante and Light swung with Blazefire Saber and Sidewinder. They slashed away side by side; split into opposite directions, but Cloud traded out his swords with her, allowing the pinkette to use the different Fusion Swords wielded along with her gunblade. After slashing all the enemies around them, Light and Cloud came unexpectedly face-to-face, exchanging quick smirks before jumping back into the heat of the battle. Between defeating the angels and demons, they playfully swung their weapons and exchanged flirtatious looks simultaneously. The ex-sergeant threw Ascalon, the last sword she had traded with the blonde deliveryman in their 'dance', back to the blonde, who reassembled all his swords and put it back into the holster on his back while she put slid Blazefire Saber into her own holster.

Bayonetta righted herself and blew the smoke from her guns, pushing the red ribbons in her hair behind her with her guns. Dante gave a thumbs-up and put his own weapons away stylishly.

With that, the last wave of angels and demons were no more...

* * *

_**[BGM cue: Devil May Cry 3 – Gigapede/Hell Vanguard battle]**_

Suddenly, all the sand on the ground gathered around right in front of the fighting quartet. A demon clad in the same fashion as a Hell Pride appeared, but its cloak covered its entire body and teleport with darkness. It held the same kind of scythe but bigger and a longer reach. Dante identified it as the Hell Vanguard. He had encountered it before and knew its attack patterns well.

The so-called "God of Death" teleported right in front of Cloud and swung its scythe. Cloud blocked the scythe on time with both Vigilante and Vendetta crossed together. However, after he parried its scythe, the demon swung its sickle for an overhead diagonal slash. It emitted a shriek that was grating to the ears.

Suddenly, Lightning spotted a puddle forming below Cloud. She gasped and reached out to him and shouted, "_Cloud!_ Watch out! Look below you!"

Cloud dodged out of the puddle before the reaper that emerged could harm him.

This time, the taker of souls teleported behind Dante, who was busy taunting the sudden appearance of another Hell Vanguard. Lightning warned him but it was too late...

Dante was impaled by its sickle.

The Hell Vanguard laughed hysterically at its prey, sure he was dead.

The demon hunter turned and gave a smirk, taking the bladed sickle in his hands and lifted the demon using its weapon. Surprised, the reaper was lifted up in mid-air hurled, waiting for the twentieth spin before sending him smashing into a wall. He removed the weapon and thrust it through the Hell Vanguard, pinning it to the wall at his back, now trapped, impaled by its own weapon.

Lightning began her conversation while in battle against the reaper. "So you really are beyond human," she remarked.

"Well what can you expect?" the hunter retorted, "it takes more than being impaled by that sickle; a sword or one my own to kill me."

During their conversation, the reaper struggled to get itself free as it watched its fellow reaper going after the witch.

Back to the witch's battle, Bayonetta saw black smoke at nine o'clock and dodged it right on time to activate Witch Time. She could see it was swinging its scythe forwards in an upward spinning direction, suggesting it wanted to add insult to injury if its attack was on-target! Dante was right. Its moves were highly predictable. She could see why the Seven Hell demons had predictable attack patterns. After Witch Time's duration expired, she told the ex-soldiers about its attack patterns.

The pinkette learned then knew why the Hell Vanguards where predictable and highly vulnerable. All it could specialize in was teleporting and guerrilla warfare, as in surprise attacks. The ex-sergeant had experienced being the victim of guerilla warfare back in her days as a Guardian Corps sergeant; the next time she saw the same tactic used on her and her squad, she had predicted how they did it. She and her team dispatched the attackers. So she now knew how to deal with the taker of souls.

The next teleporting reaper arrived and immediately attacked the witch with swift swings using its scythe. It was now headed towards Lightning. The hardened soldier dodged the attack easily, though her cape was torn by a fraction of its current length in the process. She then saw the other reaper Dante threw against the wall free itself from its weapon. It teleported on the side of the fellow reaper in the blink of an eye.

The two demons went into defensive stances as they the quartet charged at them. Dante and Cloud drew Rebellion and the fully assembled Fusion Swords as Bayonetta and Lightning provided cover fire for their respective partners. Upon the swordsmen's third strike, the two scythe adepts parried it, causing the two men to stagger. They saw that the reapers were about to execute an overhead slash on them. The blonde and the snow-haired man rolled sideways just in time; the latter switched to his Trickster Style as he knew the most recommended way to counter the taker of souls was to dodge them.

One of the Hell Vanguards was some distances away from the two swordsmen. The crimson-clad demon hunter disappeared beside the chocobo-head but appeared in front of the reaper and used Helm Breaker, causing the demon to stagger somewhat. It then disappeared.

The witch saw a puddle below her feet. The reaper was about to attack her but she back flipped to activate Witch Time. Bayonetta switched to two pairs of claws that could change between the elements of infernal fire and heavenly lightning - Durga. They were a massive set of claws and could easily tear through any flesh; her hands suddenly emitted a hissing noise as claw-like fingers protruded and her feet underwent the same transformation. They were engulfed in a bright flame until her heels melted away and claws extended from her feet. Her fingers hissed with flashing sparks as lightning raced around the claws, just waiting to inject itself in an oncoming enemy. The air around her crackled and popped dangerously with lightning and fire.

Properly equipped with the lightning Durga, the witch executed quick cuts with it, focusing on speed and accuracy. She countered a strike and a flurry of electrical claw strikes in a sharp 360 degrees, scraping any oncoming enemies that dared to come near her whirlwind. Intertwined with the electricity were the flammable claws on her feet. She finished the attack with a stomp, executing a Wicked Weave infused with fire. By the time her Witch Time expired, the reaper teleported away and on the side of the fellow reaper.

While the witch dodged and countered the reaper, Lightning spotted black smoke rolling off the other. It came out and the pinkette dodged it just in time to counter its attack with gun blasts. The black incarnate of death appeared before her and was about to swing its scythe; the ex-sergeant dodged it and reactivated her Grav-con Unit. She leaped towards the Hell Vanguard and performed a devastating dropkick, causing it to stagger and teleport away. Its black essence was behind Lightning, so the scythe adept slashed her on her back, ripping her red cape up to one forth of it and breaking one of the straps holding her left shoulder pauldron. Thanks to the Grav-Con unit activated, she made a safe landing and never took a beating from the surface. But it wasn't just the Grav-con Unit that allowed a safe fall.

Cloud had rushed to the pinkette's aid once more and caught her in his arms, not even staggering under her sudden weight. Then, the woman flipped upside down and the blonde clasped her hands as tightly as he could and swung her around and around, the pinkette's body now in perpendicular above the man's chest. They saw the taker of souls and is about to strike both of them at the same time. With enough number of rotations and the right pace, Cloud let go of Lightning's hands and her feet targeted on the reaper's gut. The power of teamwork prevailed as Light's feet touched the death incarnate's gut hard before the sickle could even hit her. The impact was strong the Hell Vanguard was knocked back, releasing its grasp on its sickle and was slammed against a weak wall. Then, Cloud grabbed the large scythe and swung it until it had enough power to make a hard and fast throw. The scythe hit the demon's head as it shrieked in pain, dying slowly and painfully.

The Hell Vanguard who was battling the half-demon and the witch shrieked in grief for the loss of its comrade. It enraged itself and struck in all directions, randomly attacking all four fighters in every direction.

However, Dante predicted its move, switching to a style specializing in defense and counter-attacking Royalguard. When the scythe adept saw the hunter, it tried a fast swinging attack but Dante blocked it, negating the damage he received and accumulated enraged energy in his left arm.

The attack was executed again and again as Dante provoked the reaper, "Come and get me!" as he gestured his two hands to do what he told him. It prompted the reaper to focus on Dante. It was done all over until his left arm glowed brightly.

With the last Hell Vanguard standing, the hunter played around with it. Its anger grew as it replicated its only attack. Dante just stood there this time.

Seeing this, the ex-sergeant warned him. "What are you just standing still for?! Move!"

Then, she felt Bayonetta's right hand on her shoulder. "I'd be confident with his abilities if I were you," she assured. "Just watch."

She motioned Cloud to come over. "Cloud dear, watch the show."

The two ex-soldiers and the witch watched the spectacle. The hunter saw the right moment and countered it by releasing all the energy he accumulated. The reaper burst into heaps of sand, leaving its mask behind as well. After the battle, the half-demon brushed the sand off his gloved hands by wiping it off.

The second and last Hell Vanguard finally died and they could relax. But Lightning sensed some uneasiness; so did Cloud. It was the same uneasiness she had felt before she was dragged down by the Chaos, but in the ground.

_**[BGM cue: Bayonetta – The Heavies]**_

On cue, a large holy circle appeared on the ground. Two large white hands climbed through and a large figure appeared with a large double-sided battleaxe mounted on its back. Its head has the face of a cute baby, but its body was a hulk of muscle and green armor. Bayonetta identified it as the Beloved, a nuisance she had once faced in Vigrid.

"As if those angels and demons weren't enough!" Lightning exclaimed in fury, drawing her gunblade.

Bayonetta nodded her assent and threw her lollipop stick out. "Oh, bother! It seems this thing is hell-bent on making sure I'm dead!"

Lightning turned to the witch. "Wait, you've fought this thing already?"

Bayonetta laughed. "Of course, my dear! This should be a piece of cake; Beloveds are hardly anything to _sneeze _at."

She flicked her wrist and popped a red lollipop in her mouth, curiously sucking on it until to Lightning's surprise her body was enveloped in a bright, red glow. Cloud and Lightning both tensed until Bayonetta turned to them with a small smile on her face, guns at the ready and aiming behind her back at the Beloved.

"What are you waiting for?" she laughed, and turned to face the approaching Beloved, whose enormous clawed feet pounded the ground with each step.

Dante stepped forward and twirled his own guns and cocked them, aiming for a headshot and smiling wickedly. "She's right; we've got places to be and things to see! No time for this guy."

The storm duo shrugged their shoulders and flanked Dante and Bayonetta, Cloud on Dante's side and Lightning on the witch's side. Their weapons were raised and poised to attack.

Bayonetta and Dante, as if choreographed, stepped forward and twirled their guns around their fingers with the barrel looking straight down the nose of the Beloved.

_"Let's rock, baby!"_

Immediately, the demon hunter and Umbran witch zoomed off towards the Beloved, unloading hundreds of bullets within the span of milliseconds. Lightning couldn't even see the bullets except for a faint blur erupting out of the end of Bayonetta's Scarborough Fair and Dante's powerful guns. The angel they faced was nothing but a huge chunk of armor and skin; its speed was pitiful and its accuracy with the battleaxe was nothing to flinch about.

Or at least, that was the conclusion Lightning had come to as she charged the Beloved alongside Cloud and blasted bullets into the angel's weak spots as Bayonetta successfully landed a Wicked Weave punch into its face and dodging Lightning's own bullets. By now, Lightning was confident she and Cloud could fight alongside Bayonetta and Dante with no possibility of her and her blonde partner getting hit.

The Beloved spotted Lightning immediately and swung his battleaxe into a hefty uppercut, but she dodged easily and instead grabbed the handle of the axe and swung on it like a gymnast. The angel's meaty hands reached for her – planning to rip her intestines out no doubt – but she dug her heels into the golden handle and slid down towards the Beloved, skateboard-style.

_"The battle ends here!" s_he cried, and stabbed her blade deep into the Beloved's sopping eye, watching as her blade sunk to the hilt and protruding out the other side in a grotesque fashion. For a moment, as Lightning balanced on the handle, she thought she had landed the final blow until she felt deep claws shear through her back and pluck her up from her vulnerable position and holding her high above the air.

Caught in the Beloved's unrelenting grasp, she could only pant out unintelligible nothings as Cloud immediately kicked off from the ground, raising his huge sword angrily to cut the hand in two when the grip became tighter. Lightning heaved in pain, feeling the sticky warmth of her blood pulse out from behind the dents the angel had made on her back. Cloud immediately froze, understanding the angel's evil intent in an instant...

_Any closer and he'll kill Lightning!_

Cloud panicked and turned to Bayonetta and Dante, who were still hacking away at the monster's back.

"Damnit–"

One of the Beloved's meaty hands swept into Cloud's back, sending him flying hundreds of meters away and clutching his stomach in agony. The full force of the impact could have easily broken his entire body, but Cloud had swung his blade behind him in the nick of time, allowing the steel to take some of the weight. He fumbled through mid-air until his back hit a solid pillar, which began to crumble to the ground immediately, sending up dust and debris on the battlefield.

Alarmed cries from Dante and Bayonetta faintly reached Cloud's ears, and then his mind went blank as he willed himself to stand, seeing through blurry vision that the Beloved held a limp Lightning in his hand, just seconds away from ripping her to shreds. The vision of Lightning and the Beloved was slowly winding into a dark tunnel and Cloud finally dropped his head to the ground.

In the Beloved's hands, Lightning could feel her life slowly draining away with every strain of muscle that the Beloved flexed. Her limbs hung over the fingers of the angel and her head lolled on her head, but there was nothing she could do...

_Serah...I'm sorry..._

_It's okay..._

Serah's last words to her before she was erased from her world rang in her mind; echoes of the past refused to fade away until her head was filled with the words of her friends, her sister, and Cloud Strife himself.

Through closed eyelids, Lightning's eyes shone a bright white until they shot open, gleaming through the dust and debris to Cloud, whose eyes had also begun to glow an eerie light green. In that instant as some divine being unseen by them entered into their souls, their hearts connected to form a bond, side-by-side and blades facing the enemy. It was in that moment that both felt the will of Etro, the goddess whose power was waning, flow their veins, providing strength and power in their greatest time of need, a time of chaos.

Both ex-soldiers' bodies gleamed, webs of bright light racing across their skin to form a chest plate of armor for Lightning and a familiar outfit for Cloud; his should pauldron protruded with blunt spikes and his gloves were hard iron. Steel spikes protruded from the knees and elbows of the armor on Lightning and a feather attachment adorned her hip, flowing freely to signify her loyalty to the realm of Valhalla. Newfound strength ebbed in Cloud, whose new outfit were something he had worn before, though the memory was fuzzy. Leather straps formed into trousers and a steely shoulder pauldron formed on his left shoulder, perfectly capable of deflecting the harshest of blows. It was a stark contrast to the steely elegance of Lightning's transformation; like the unsteady reflection of a moon on water and the piercing rays of the sun on burning sands of the desert.

It was their differences that brought them together, allowed them to fight side by side in this world of angels and demons...it was what separated them from the countless mortals _and _immortals that had ever attempted the impossible...to achieve near god-like abilities in their time of need.

Time seemed to stop as they transformed into knights of Valhalla, guardians of a realm beyond life and death itself. Lightning's wounds were healed instantly, Cloud's bones placed correctly once again. Even Bayonetta and Dante, who were masters of controlling time, could not resist the enormous change of time and space.

Finally, time sped up to present, and the storm duo's movements increased tenfold, becoming nearly a blur to even Bayonetta.

"Jesus," she whistled, lifting her glasses to get a better view.

"What the hell just happened?" Dante exclaimed, watching from his perch on the Beloved's head that they had been fighting just moments ago. He had somehow tamed it by blasting a bullet in its brain, causing it to become more dizzy until it had given up and just sat down. It provided the best seats in the house.

Lightning was still clenched firmly in the Beloved's hand, but not for long. Immediately she began to easily pry open the fingers, matching the angel's strength with no difficulties; she singed his fingers with a fire spell and leapt out of his hold, leaping onto his back and raising her blade.

The Beloved swung angrily, demolishing nearby pillars. Blocks of stone crashed to the ground, requiring quick reflexes from Dante and Bayonetta to dodge. Cloud had risen in his own armor and charged the angel, hefting his crystalline Ultima Weapon zweihander high in the air.

Lightning balanced on his huge back, holding the tip of her sword above its head, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Cloud dodged the Beloved's wild swings, his body faintly giving off a dark aura in contrast to the shell of white light Lightning gave off.

Lightning began the enchantment, breathing both angelic and demonic words, praying to both the goddess and the rulers of hell – wherever and whatever it may be – while they both charged their weapons, feeling power flow through their veins.

_"By the goddess..." _Lightning began.

_"Soaring through the heavens, black wings of night..." _Cloud began his verse.

_"Colossal blade, pierce the sky..."_

_"Swift and silent, light blade reach into the abyss..."_

The chanted out the last bit together:

_"Two guardians of a realm beyond time, bound through heart and blade."_

_"NOW!"_

They thrust their blades deep into the Beloved, stomach and head. Her gunblade stabbed deep, sinking to the hilt as the monstrous angel bellowed in anger; Cloud's huge sword gashed through its stomach, bright light poured from the wounds, nearly blinding them both. Cloud rolled out of the way as the Beloved collapsed, peering up at Lightning. She gracefully back flipped off of its back and landed smoothly on the broken cement.

At the same moment, Bayonetta and Dante was about to finish off the other Beloved that appeared suddenly in aid of its brother. First, Dante drew out a briefcase capable of holding 666 weapons called Pandora, which he got in the courtyard of Fortuna Castle. He transformed it into its laser cannon form _Pandora Form no. 398: Revenge_. He fired its long-ranged laser capable of piercing through other enemies no matter how thick their skin or armor is; It gave heavy damage to it and forced it to its knees, weak. Thankfully, Cloud and Lightning were not in the line of fire and landed just in time and remained on the sidelines.

"Bayonetta, the floor is yours!" Dante shouted with a suggestive smirk and wink. She knew what to do.

_**[BGM cue: Bayonetta OST - Demonic Beast Summon]**_

"_AVAVAGO!_" she chanted loudly as she twirled around, holding her head relaxedly in her hands as swirls of black, silky hair streamed into a demonic portal, reappearing behind the Beloved. Her entire black cat suit disappeared leaving her bare naked, but the black strands covered her lower region and her exposed nipples perfectly. The moment her suit vanished, Dante stared in awe and was about to touch her body but the witch playfully spanked his hand and shoved him off to finish her ritual. The hunter played along and pretended to be in pain by shaking the hand where she spanked it.

As the sky darkened, the weakened Beloved struggled to get up. He felt a demonic presence behind him. It was a demon in the form of a dragon, created by Bayonetta's hair; gold chains entwined around its black skin former of silky strands. The weakened angel cowered in fear as the dragon roared but was snapped up in its ferocious jaws. The Infernal Demon clenched its jaw and ground its massive teeth together, repeatedly chomping on to the unfortunate angel warrior, and then delivered the final chomp, spitting its bits and pieces as blood spurted everywhere.

The last Beloved finally winked out of existence, leaving only blood behind in evidence of any battle at all.

Once the last angel was gone, the witch's hair retreated back to Bayonetta, twisting around her body and hardening into her previous cat-suit. She promptly felt Dante's arm around her waist.

"You were awesome, babe!" the hunter complimented.

"I know those two there were awesome too!" the witch countered, referring to the ones behind them.

Lightning and Cloud stood silently side by side as their normal clothes phased into existence, their gleaming armor as the knightly guardians of Valhalla receded, along with their power.

Dante whistled. "Now _that_ was fucking awesome!"

_**[No BGM]**_

After defeating the two ferocious Beloved, Dante, Cloud, Bayonetta and Lightning stood in silence amidst exhausted exhales. Lightning's and Cloud's armor melted into their regular clothing, lifting the extra pounds that the silver armor added. Cloud tucked the interlocked Fusion Swords back into his holsters that held all of his blades on the back of his gear. Lightning tiredly flicked Blazefire Saber into a gun and placed it back in the leather holster attached to the waist of her brown miniskirt.

"You two weren't bad," the crimson-clad demon hunter admitted. "Though religion and I never mix, I must say you're blessed!"

"Dante's right!" the witch continued, "You two are indeed champions of the goddess named Etro."

Now it was the thunder duo's turn to return the favor.

"Well, what can we say?" the blonde mused. "You both have some... some..." Cloud was struggling to find the right words.

"Mad skills?" the pinkette referred to a word Snow had often used on their journey.

Hearing that, Dante answered, " We both have _mad skills_, alright!"

"Yes. MAD!" Bayonetta finished in her thick accent.

Then Mog and Mont Blanc who had been watching the entire battle from up above the battlefield, landed. The hunter and the witch were surprised to see two white floating beings with pink noses and antennas sticking out of their heads descend. Out of curiosity, Bayonetta leaned forward and poked Monty's fluffy pom-pom, smiling when the little creature grumbled insults.

"Lay off the pom-pom, witch," he muttered, holding his pom-pom defensively.

"Oh, someone's a little _grouchy. _Why don't I give you a hug to make you feel better?" Bayonetta teasingly offered, and without warning she snatched Monty out of the air and cuddled him like any girl would love a stuffed toy.

"_Put me down, kupo!_" Monty complained, whose face was trapped between the black witch's breasts. "This is embarrassing, wench!"

Amidst the moogle's squawking Bayonetta asked, "What is this adorable creature? He sure does have an attitude."

Lightning smiled. "He's a pain in the ass, that's what he is."

The devil hunter was inspecting Mog's crystal bobble and leaned forward to get a better look; Mog was nervously leaning back every inch Dante took forward. The moogle's squinty eyes suddenly turned down and he brandished his clockwork wand at Dante, throwing up a fist.

Dante threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Whoa there, buddy! I didn't mean any harm!"

_"Kupopopopo!" _Mog cried, and smacked Dante on the forehead with the clock's face. The latter reeled back, and even as strong as he was, he had to admit that little toy-like wand hurt like hell!

"Damn..." Dante muttered, rubbing the red circle imprinted on his head.

Bayonetta and Lightning couldn't help it...they laughed. Even Cloud cracked a small smile. Cloud, Lightning, and Dante looked rather worse for wear (Bayonetta being spotless as usual), but they were back in high spirits.

_For the moment..._

* * *

Unbeknownst to the quartet, they were being watched by a man clad in a gray hooded cloak from afar on top of a ruined boarding house. He reached for his cellphone and dialed a number on speed dial.

"Boss, the plan has failed. I apologize; the fault is mine," he reported, watching the group of four laughing.

_"Fret not, young disciple,"_ the caller replied through the line, _"in time, both the witch and the half-demon shall hand those Artefacts to us."_

"But what of those two who we never seen before?"

_"Who?"_ asked his superior in surprise.

"A man clad in black with glowing cyan eyes, spiky blonde hair, wielding a large sword assembled with five smaller swords; he is accompanied by a woman with aqua eyes, pink, spiky hair and wielding a weapon that can transform between sword and gun, and wears some sort of military uniform we have never seen before. They both wield the ability to transform into knight-like beings."

_"Knights? Explain."_

"They store this unknown energy inside of them it seems. This could relate to the Artefact we have in HQ, but I cannot be certain. When they transformed, their clothes were replaced with armor unalike to warrior gods."

_"Warrior gods, you say?"_

"I will continue to obtain information on these new arrivals. I'll be returning to HQ this instant."

_"Very good. I will see you when you arrive."_

"Will do."

And with that, the mysterious hooded man vanished from the scene, leaving sand fluttering and small gold rings lying on the ground...

_**Who is this mystery man? And who was that mystery caller he spoke to through his phone? Find out soon!**_

* * *

_**[BGM cue: DMC3 OST - Mission Results]**_

**Prologue**

**Results:**

_**Cloud Strife:**_  
**Items used:** none  
**Stylish points:** 56476  
**Damage sustained:** -5134  
**Overall rank:** A

_**Lightning Farron:**_  
**Items used:** none  
**Stylish points:** 55486  
**Damage sustained:** -5421  
**Overall rank:** A

_**Dante:**_  
**Items used:** none  
**Stylish points:** 21549  
**Damage sustained:** -205  
**Overall rank:** S

_**Bayonetta:**_  
**Items used:** Bloody Rose Lollipop (-500)  
**Stylish points:** 19564  
**Damage sustained:** none  
**Overall rank:** S

**Overall average stylish rank: ****A-**  
**Remark from DHKFS:** _That was awesome, you four! But you could've made your fight a little bit better! Try not to take too much damage next chapter, Cloud and Light!_

**Remark from WriteFF13: **_Impressive feats from all around the battlefield from the FF, DMC, and Bayonetta team! Cloud and Light, step it up! I know you can do better than that!_

I'm gonna keep writing this part whenever a full chapter ends! Yes, I, the Devil Hunter, have thought of this. Think of it like Square-Enix, Capcom, Nintendo (Bayonetta 2 will be published by Nintendo once it's out!) and Sega decided to quad-publish a game, but under the collaborative direction of Hideki Kamiya (main), Tetsuya Nomura (assisting) and Motomu Toriyama (co-director) and being developed by PlatinumGames AKA "Team Little Devils" and "Team Little Angels" using their Platinum Engine game engine.

* * *

Notes:

[1] Hideki Kamiya has confirmed that Dante took the alias Tony Redgrave because he had respect for the journalist Antonio Redgrave. It could be possible that DMC and Bayonetta are connected canonically because of this connection between them among others, such as the possibility of Enzo, Bayonetta's informant, being Enzo Ferino, the first informant of Dante in the DMC3 manga. On the dark side, this could be some of the many plotholes in the original DMC canon needed to be filled out. I hate it when a story has plotholes left behind!

[2] _The world from the movie_** Equilibrium, **_where the Gun-Kata was first seen._ Dante's Twosome Time Gunslinger Style action alludes or gives tribute to the Gun-Kata.

[3] Bruce Lee. I'm paying tribute to this great man! Problem?

* * *

A note from **WriteFF13:**

I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter and part two of the prologue! Hopefully the fight scenes are fun to read, as **Devil Hunter Kira F Sparda **and I worked hard on them! Thanks for reading, and read my original _Worlds Collide _series to find out about Cloud and Lightning's going-ons before arriving in this strange new world! (DHKFS's plot does not necessarily follow mine, as there are several differences. For example, Cloud and Lightning are not a pairing in my story.) Also, the battle (Cloud and Light, especially) against the Beloved is special courtesy of moi!

Write on,

**WriteFF13**

* * *

_As you can see, even though I am using Dante from DMC4, I decided to bring his driving young spirit back from DMC3! And I decided to bring back two Styles he got from both the demons Geryon and the Doppelganger - Quicksilver (silvery white aura) and Doppelganger (black aura; in future chapters), respectively._

_The following Devil Arms were used in this chapter:  
Rebellion  
Cerberus  
Gilgamesh_

_The following guns were used:  
Ebony and Ivory  
Coyote-A  
Spiral  
Pandora_

_The following Styles were used:  
Trickster  
Swordmaster  
Gunslinger  
Royalguard  
Quicksilver_

_The following Witch Arms were used:  
Scarborough Fair  
Kusheldra  
Durga  
Odette  
Sai Fung_

_So there. We hope you enjoy this long, yet epic, second part of the Prologue of "Worlds Collide: The Chaos Between Light and Darkness"._

_If you want a preview for the next chapter, then send me, DH, a PM._

_For now, in the words of Dante, sweet dreams!_

* * *

_P.S. Yes, I am getting the new DMC game, DmC! Got a problem with that? At least New Dante is better than DMC2 Dante!_


	3. I p1: The Stories of Light and Darkness

_**[Bayonetta OST - Chapter Start]**_

_Alright everyone! This is now the official first chapter of 'The Chaos Between Light and Darkness'. Chapter 1 part 1 focuses on Rodin getting to know more about Cloud, Lightning and their respective worlds as well as telling them the "Legend of Sparda" and Bayonetta's birth as well as its effect._

_Note: since this is about each person's story, we would have to add certain FFVII, FFXIII and FFXIII-2 OSTs for these events occurring in this chapter._

**Legal disclaimers still apply!**

**Chapter 1: Stories of Light and Darkness**

**Part 1: Echoes of the Past**

_**[End of 'Chapter Start']**_

* * *

It had been six hours since Cloud Strife and Lightning Farron first arrived in a world where a pair of opposing forces – angels and demons – had begun coexisting with one another to judge humanity. Of all the worlds they had visited, they found the world they were in now the weirdest and most bizarre, not to mention the most awkward of otherworldly dimensions.

Dante was leading the two ex-soldiers inside his office _Devil May Cry_ for a place to crash for the entire day. Bayonetta parted so that she could get to The Gates of Hell bar to meet up with her benefactor, but not before taking the moogle Mont Blanc with her, for she loved cuddling him so much like any stuffed animal she had in her room she shared with Dante in his office. Lightning needed a breather away from Monty anyway...

"Kupo! Don't leave me with this witch!" the moogle cried.

"Oh, we're gonna play a little game called 'dolly' in The Gates of Hell," the raven-haired witch playfully said.

"Kupopopopo!" the struggling moogle whined, trying to break free, but the Umbran witch would not allow her new 'stuffed animal' to get away from her grasp.

"Later, Monty..." Lightning bid with little emotion as she crossed her arms. _Mont Blanc is really a pain in the ass... He deserved this... Have fun with him, Bayonetta!_ she thought. She then focused on going with the SOLDIER wannabe and the demon hunter.

The soldier pair were introduced to a woman clad in a black strapless top whose front looked cracked but zipped up and exposed the lower part of her midriff; black jeans and knee-high high-heeled black leather boots; Dante introduced them to Trish, his first official partner.

The ex-sergeant approached the desk in front of the front door. She was focused on the woman that highly resembled the blonde woman clad in black worn over a red shawl, thinking that was her.

"You really look beautiful in this picture," the pinkette complimented thinking the woman in the picture was her.

"Yes, I am beautiful," the blonde woman answered. "And no, that woman in the picture is not me."

"Then who?" the chocobo-head asked.

"Her name was Eva," the demon hunter began. "She was my human mother; killed by demons sent by the demon king Mundus, who my father Sparda sealed away two millenniums ago; who I beat with Trish's help. Her death was the reason I became a demon hunter, to avenge it and my brother's corruption of evil..." he finished sadly.

The blonde woman jumped in the conversation. "The truth is... I am a doppelganger of his mother, a demon created by _him_," she began, her voice emphasizing to refer to the demon lord. "I once served him until Dante saved me from the demon Nightmare's attack that I failed to serve him. I returned the favor when Mundus was about to kill Dante and I took it for him; I thought that was the end for me."

She approached a red demonic sword on display and gently caressed it. "This blade, the Sword of Sparda, and the completed amulet I am wearing brought me back from the dead," she continued as she held the gold and silver mixed amulet she wore around her neck. "Despite me being a demon, I have the heart of a human... You could say that I am Eva reincarnated."

It now made sense why in the earlier battle the demonic hands from hell that Bayonetta summoned had comrades. They now understood where Trish had come from. They saw tears drop down from the blonde woman's face. The former Guardian Corps sergeant wiped the tears away with a reassuring smile, as did Dante. Cloud placed his hand on her left shoulder.

"What did I tell you before, Trish?" Dante said. "Devils never cry. These tears are what make humans... well, human! Every time you want to reminisce the past on how we first met, you always feel this way," he finished as he patted her shoulder.

Trish was reassured that she would never cry again. She remembered Dante's recent mission with her in the city of Fortuna where she disguised herself as Gloria, a dark-skinned, short white-haired woman scantily clad in white who was a member of The Order of The Sword who brought The Sword of Sparda to its former and late leader, Sanctus. "And I'm sorry if I caused you some more trouble," she pleaded to the white-haired man as she faced him.

"No problem," he answered. "Just don't give it to some power-hungry old fart like him next time, okay?" The woman then nodded; both the hunter and the blonde woman knew exactly who they were referring to.

The two soldiers didn't get who that person they were talking about. Mog added "Dante's recent mission was to retrieve the sword Yamato, but he decided to give it to a local there who also bears the blood of Sparda."

Now they knew...

When the hunter sat down on his chair beside his desk to rest his foot on it, he assured the two former soldiers that it was in his most recent mission he took from Lady, another one of his partners.

Suddenly, the blonde woman approached the spiky blonde man upon spotting her two guns – Luce and Umbra – on one of the holsters on his back.

"And I need my guns back, thank you very much," she stated and snatched the black and white guns away from him. Cloud was once again armed with no guns. Seeing this, Dante retorted "Hey! I thought you didn't need those."

"I never specified for how long!" the Eva look-alike retorted back. The hunter sighed in defeat, so he let her keep her own guns again.

Mog was floating around the two ex-soldiers.

"Dante's info about Trish and what she herself said about herself is true, kupo," the moogle began. "Trish is a demon that once served the demon emperor Mundus made to resemble Dante's late human mother Eva." The two guardians of time simply nodded, understanding more where Dante and Trish are coming from.

Suddenly, the front door of DMC opened and the black-clad Umbran Witch Bayonetta entered, prompting the half-demon to once again stand up from his chair; he was reading a magazine filled with women and their sexual confessions. He stylishly closed it by slamming both ends hard and then gently placed it in his magazine rack on the side. He then stood next to the two time travelers and crossed his arms arming his signature sword and handguns.

"Cloud, Lightning, Dante," she called on the deliveryman, the ex-sergeant and the demon hunter. "Rodin awaits the three of you as he can't talk to just me. He may have some info about those so-called 'Artefacts' you two ex-soldiers are after, as well as these strange occurrences of places and people not known to this world."

When the two ex-soldiers heard what the witch said last, they knew what they wanted to say.

"The paradoxes?!" they exclaimed together.

"Is that the right term?" the demon hunter asked both the spiky blonde and the pinkette.

"We'll explain that to this 'Rodin' character in that bar," Lightning then answered. "Let's move!" The three nodded and decided to head out to The Gates of Hell bar.

Before leaving, Dante turned to Trish. "Trish," he began, "make sure you keep my shop safe, okay? And if Lady came by, tell her that I'll pay my debts to her once I'm done dealing with this unfinished business Bayonetta and I have."

"Got it," the blonde woman answered.

And with that the quartet left for The Gates of Hell bar.

The quartet began walking towards their destination. On their way, Cloud and Lightning approached the snow-haired man as they slowly walked back towards him who was jogging behind the witch.

"You had a debt with someone?" the wannabe SOLDIER began.

"Why the hell aren't you paying for it?" the ex-sergeant added symbiotically.

"It's a long story, guys," the hunter explained "Well, let's get to that bar! Or should I say bar and ice cream parlor?"

The former mercenary and sergeant grew confused.

"Since Dante is a regular in The Gates of Hell [1]," Bayonetta explained, "Rodin decided he would sell ice cream by his ridiculous request. But that means he would have to deal with little children coming in the bar in the process. Some of those kids cry, which I have a huge dislike for."

"Why dislike crying children?" Lightning asked.

"Just an encounter with... how do I put this?" The witch thought really hard because on how she could explain Cereza, her own younger being in child form. "A younger version of myself."

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"It's true," Mog flew by Lightning's right. "Bayonetta's recent adventure by herself was finding out who she really was in the past 500 years. She met her younger self Cereza – Bayonetta's real name – who was the key to her past memories, kupo." Both guardians of time were clarified from confusion.

"I see now..." the ex-sergeant nodded and faced the witch "Well, Cloud and I are fortunate that you got your true memories back prior to our arrival and meeting Dante." The aforementioned witch nodded with a smile. She wrapped her arms around their shoulders as a sign of friendship in which both of them had to let go.

For the rest of the walking time, no more than five minutes, and after passing by the pizza parlor Dante always went to – from where he had amassed an enormous amount of debt from – the quartet with the white furry red-nosed being had finally stopped in front of a small building standing only two stories high. The canopy overhang was made of pure obsidian which had the sculpture of the head of a familiar and famous demon. The twin doors below it were that of the typical bars or restaurants - mahogany wooden doors with glass panes each.

The half-demon and the witch entered both doors, turning the knob and opening it. They gestured them to come inside. Once opened, it revealed the interior. The ex-solider duo wanted to see more of it, but was interrupted by the emergence of the moogle Mont Blanc. His expression looked like he has seen a ghost.

_**[Bayonetta OST - The Gates of Hell]**_

The interior was just like any bar they had been in either. There were wooden tables covered in tablecloth and wooden chairs. To Cloud, it was even more magnificent than Tifa's 7th Heaven bar and cafe in Edge. To Lightning, it was darker than Lebreau's beachhouse in Bodhum. The environment was clean, neat and comfortable all at the same time.

But something was amiss; the place looked and felt dark and ominous as it had a sculpture of a demon on top of the old fashioned record player with a golden horn playing the sound and a needle playing the background music, in which the genre was smooth jazz, perfect for a bar. There was a bar rack behind the bar counter which had bar stools in front of it by the middle back with a neon light sign on the upper center of the rack with a figure of a demon and words that read "The Gates of Hell" in a similar style to Dante's office's neon lighting.

_No wonder this place is called 'The Gates of Hell'_ Lightning thought. _Outside, there were some thugs looking for trouble around town; and inside, the place is giving me the creeps!_ She did notice some street thugs as the quartet walking into the bar earlier.

On the table to the right of the doorway was a man wearing sunglasses, an elegant hat hiding his ponytailed black hair, a green winter coat, a red scarf which had a different tint of red from Lightning's red cape, brown pants as well and black leather boots in which the tint was almost identical to Dante's. Both Dante and Bayonetta identified the man as Enzo Ferino, Dante's former informant and the Bayonetta's current employee.

"Hey, Enzo old pal! I'm back!" the half-demon greeted to get his attention.

Seeing his two business partners once again, Enzo greeted, "Dante! Oh, ho! I thought you'd be fucking dead by now!"

"You kiddin' me, Enzo?" Dante retorted with a laugh. "It took more than just a regular beating, gunshots, swords from Paradiso, Inferno, and anything else between to kill me."

The short man then faced Bayonetta, his current client.

"And I thought you'd be dead too, Bayonetta!" the man sighed

"I guess my time hasn't come yet," the witch answered in glee

Then, the short and obese man noticed Cloud and Lightning. "Uh, guys. Who the hell are those two? Haven't seen 'em before because from the way they're dressed, they ain't from around here."

"That's true," Bayonetta answered, glancing at the two. "I haven't introduced you two to our old friend."

"This here is Enzo Ferino," the demon slayer began, gesturing his hand to his old friend "He's an old friend of ours, my first employer, now my current client and Bayonetta's current informant."

Mog jumped in. "Dante's info on Enzo Ferino is accurate, kupo," the moogle then added.

"Enzo," the witch continued who motioned to the two former soldiers. "The spiky blonde one clad in black is Cloud Strife and the pink haired woman with a strange military uniform is Lightning Farron."

"So these are the two ex-soldiers that floating thingamajig there keep telling Rodin about?" the informant retorted, pointed towards Mont Blanc who was floating beside the ex-sergeant. He stood up and took both soldiers' hands and united his to do a handshake to both. "You guys look actually cool. And the description of the white floating thing, or whatever-the-fuck you two call it matched perfectly. If you need some information on what you might seek, then I'm the man to ask," he finished, shaking their hands as he gestured his right thumb towards himself.

"Okay," Cloud answered, albeit confused.

"Tell us about the locations of the three Artefacts," Lightning continued, hoping _he _had a clue at least.

"I don't really know, because I still don't even know all the bullshit that white fluffy toy keeps saying," Enzo complained. "Artefacts? Paradoxes? Historia Crux? What the fuck is he saying?! Is it because of these strange occurrences around town? I have no fucking idea what you people are saying too! Sure I researched on these, but I still don't fucking get it!" in the middle of Enzo's complaints, Cloud and Lightning got weary and rolled their eyes. "Maybe it has something to do with the sudden appearances of angels and demons attacking at random, but I don't even know how the fuck two supposedly opposing forces decided to co-exist with one another and-"

The snow-haired red-clad half-demon decided to shut his friend up. He covered his mouth with a gloved hand. All the short man could do was emit muffled gags.

"Forgive his rude and complaining manner, my dears," the Umbran witch assured, lazily toying with her white and red gloves.

"He's always like that," the half-devil added. "And boy, his rants and complaints are something we have to make him shut up about..."

"I can see why..." the blonde remarked.

Enzo reminded Cloud of Cid Highwind, pilot of the airships Highwind and Shera. He and Cid always argued, but it was in Cid's nature to complain and argue, not to mention he was quite the vulgar potty mouth. He found Enzo just as foul-mouthed as his mid-aged pilot comrade.

Same went with Lightning... However, it reminded her of Sazh Katzroy's cowardly complaining at the beginning of her journey.

After chatting with Enzo for some minutes, the quartet sat on the four barstools at the bar counter after Bayonetta's offering.

"Rodin should be here any minute now," the witch said, facing the two ex-soldiers and leaning her elbows on the counter. Dante was confident the bartender would come out from nowhere.

Suddenly, in front of the bar rack holding bottles of different liquor, a devlish red portal appeared. Then, red lightning bolts electrified the portal and out came a man.

The man had a tanned skin tone with black tattoos all over his bald head. He was wearing a brown coat exposing his forearms worn over a black shirt. His neck was covered with the same kind of red scarf Enzo was wearing. His pants are also in the same brown tint as his coat and the boots he wore were purely black. His eyes were covered in sunglasses to keep his glowing red eyes from being exposed. Cloud and Lightning felt a sinister aura around the man.

"I've been expecting you two - Cloud Strife and Lightning Farron," the man spoke in a strange accent as he faced the two ex-soldiers on his left.

"Where the hell have you been, Rodin?" Bayonetta asked in a drawl.

"Business in the Inferno," the bartender answered without facing the witch. "As usual..."

"Rodin, the immortal fallen angel. He's a weapons dealer, bartender and the sole proprietor of The Gates of Hell bar, kupo," Mont Blanc stated knowingly.

"You got the right shit about me, Monty," Rodin replied, facing the floating aforementioned moogle. "But enough about me and my shit. You two here for business or pleasure? Either way, I'll hook you two up."

"More on business, Rodin," the blonde answered in a serious manner, yet it sounded defensive as he thought the bartender was hitting on the ex-sergeant. Bayonetta smirked, hearing the casual warning tone lacing his words.

"We have no time for pleasure," the pinkette added also in an emotionless and serious manner. "But thanks for the offer..." she added with a playful smirk.

_Are you trying to flirt with me, Rodin?_ she thought. _I hope you're not; because if you are, Cloud and I are so kicking your ass!_

The arms dealer nodded in response and continued. "Then let's get down to business, shall we?" he began who faced the informant. "Enzo, get your fat ass over here and hand me all the research we did on what we've found out so far!" he snapped, his voice suddenly loud and booming. The short man then handed him a black briefcase. Once the bartender in shades received it, he opened the lock on the sides of the top. Once unlocked, the arms dealer then brought out a brown envelope that said "Paradox". The contents of the briefcase also contain the same kind of envelope but with different labels.

Cloud and Lightning glanced at each other. The more time they spent in this world of light and darkness, the more it seemed _they _knew more about their mission than their new friends.

Rodin placed the envelope on the bar stand and opened it; containing a rough outline of Cloud, Lightning, the Artefacts, the Historia Crux and more relating to it. It also contained printed paper containing all of the research both Rodin and Enzo did regarding those. The latter man then sat beside Bayonetta and listened.

"You still want to listen to this, Enzo?" the bartender asked.

"Well, yeah," the informant replied. "So I can _really_ get the gist of these things."

"Well, listen tight, Enzo, because I'm not gonna repeat this shit again," he then finished, facing the soldier pair. He looked up at Cloud.

"So you once enlisted to the faction called SOLDIER, didn't ya?" he asked him.

"No," the blonde replied. "I was overly exposed to Mako energy, Gaia's life energy. I absorbed my late close friend Zack Fair's memories which I led myself to think I was in SOLDIER, particularly in the First Class. It was considered the best of the best where each member were a one-man army." He then drew out his completely assembled Fusion Swords. "These swords I made are in honor of him for the weapon we wielded, the Buster Sword - a symbol of upholding a hero's legacy, dreams and honor."

Hearing the term 'Buster Sword' the bartender brought out a drawing of the weapon and handed it over to the wannabe SOLDIER. He looked at it with delight.

"Nice drawing," he complimented.

"Nah. Enzo did that," the bar owner retorted. Cloud then faced Enzo and gave him a thumbs-up.

Then, he brought out the drawing of the familiar city he and his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart were living in - Edge.

"That's Edge!" he exclaimed, his eyes glazing over at the sight of his home. "It was built after Midgar was in ruins thanks to Meteor!" He ran a finger over it, his face softening. Lightning smiled, sensing his homesickness. It had been months since they had seen Tifa or the rest of former AVALANCHE.

Looking at the research on his hand, Rodin knew it was very accurate as he nodded in approval. "You're a deliveryman now, right?"

"Yeah," the chocobo-head replied. "I can deliver any kind of package within any part of The Planet."

"I'll tell you the reason why I asked you that later after I talk to your partner here," the bartender finished whose head turned to the ex-Guardian Corps sergeant. The deliveryman nodded.

"Lightning... it flashes bright, then fades away... doesn't protect; only destroys, huh?" Rodin began.

"Right," the ex-sergeant answered putting her left hand on her left cheek. "My real name is kept a secret. So far, the only people who know my real name are my sister Serah, my previous companions, and Cloud here," she continued as she placed her right hand on Cloud's black pauldron. The blonde gave an apologetic smile. _Sorry Rodin. Even I can't tell you Lightning's real name, _the chocobo-head then thought.

"Alright. Serah's your younger sister, right?" the bartender asked, continuing his conversation. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" His tone changed slightly.

"More than anything." the ex-sergeant answered.

"And you've been travelling with Cloud to fix these 'paradoxes' in order for you to reunite with your only remaining member of your own flesh and blood, right?"

The pinkette simply nodded as a sign of 'yes'.

"And you were destined to fight alongside her as the second guardian of this goddess called Etro. Right, Cloud?" the bartender faced the spiky blonde.

"Yeah. Although I didn't get what Lightning here said at first, but I then saw where she was coming from..." the chocobo-head replied.

Then, Rodin brought out some pictures with each one bearing the signature "L. Redgrave" on the back.

"Ah, Luka," the witch sighed. "Such a reliable journalist."

"For the son of the man I respected, he seems to get some respect now," Dante added.

The barkeep showed the pictures to Lightning and Cloud. The one Lightning held had a familiar blonde man with a hairstyle almost similar to the pseudo-SOLDIER wearing a dark gray trenchcoat, a red shirt under the coat, black pants and white boots punching angels and demons. This man bore an uncanny resemblance to the son of Sparda.

"Snow!" the ex-sergeant gasped. "This idiot was caught in a paradox again?" She grumbled in a short fury, put the photo down and crossing her arms as she faced away from the bartender.

"You know the guy?" Enzo asked.

"Yes. He's my sister's fiancé, my would-be brother-in-law..." she explained, facing Dante "You know what, Dante? You remind me a lot of him."

"Really?" he answered. "Then he could be, like, my best friend or something!"

Upon hearing Dante's remark about Snow, Lightning could only face-palm.

_Great! Now I__'ve__ got two idiots to protect... As if that so-called 'hero' wasn't enough! Cloud and I have met another, but he's a half-demon..._ she thought, grumbling. She so hated hanging out with Snow...

Cloud placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"We take it you're annoyed by this guy, eh?" Enzo asked.

Lightning held her index finger and thumb an inch apart, squinting her eyes. Enzo took that as a 'yes.'

Bayonetta, who had been sipping her glass of wine quietly, suddenly tapped on the countertop. The group turned towards her.

"Perhaps it's time we hear Cloud and Lightning's story. I'm quite curious, you know," she said, adjusting her glasses.

Enzo nodded. "Me, too! I dug up a lot of research, but there's still so much info even _I _couldn't find!"

Cloud turned to Lightning, who breathed in deeply. She looked down at her hands, stretching the navy-blue leather. Tightening a fist, she took a deep breath and told them her story.

* * *

_**[Final Fantasy XIII **_**OST – "Prelude to FINAL FANTASY XIII"]**

"Two worlds – completely opposite of each other – coexisted together...my planet, Cocoon, and the enormous lowerworld, Gran Pulse. Hundreds of years before I was born our planets were at peace with each other. That is, until Lindzei turned on the people of Pulse and began to tear Pulse apart from the very core of its planet. That god-like being tore everything from the face of Pulse's earth. Steppes were scorched, oceans sucked dry, and ruins decimated to dust," Lightning began, remembering the tale she was told so long ago in her years as a school student. "From the paintings and murals we were shown in school, it was an utter hell during that time.

"Lindzei then began rebuilding Cocoon, crafting it into a beautiful world safe from the wild hostility below. However, the people of Pulse were angry, scarred by the destruction Lindzei cost. They built Pulsian automata to combat the new people of Cocoon. Cocoon's people answered with threats of war; Pulse answered, and the War of Transgression began."

"Didn't your two friends – Fang and Vanille – fight in the War?" Cloud interjected, remembering her own tale she had shared back during the first days of their meeting.

She nodded, remembering her raven-haired companion and happy-go-lucky friend. "Yeah, they did. The war tore Pulse's surface to shreds, but not before Cocoon's shell was cracked. Fang and Vanille were crystallized inside a Pulse Vestige that was later transported to Cocoon, in my hometown. No one knew about it until about a year ago during our battle against the fal'Cie. The population of Pulse dwindled, yet we were blindly told that Pulse would always be a threat if we didn't stay on our toes."

"And then it was discovered, right? Pretty fucked up government system you got goin' on there," Enzo snorted.

"You could say that. Anyways. We were branded – Snow, Sazh, Hope, and Vanille. From then on, we were constantly hunted until we were driven to Pulse by the fal'Cie Barthandelus. There, we strengthened and became powerful. We could feel the raw energy from our bodies at that point. A few weeks passed and we eventually flew back to Cocoon, and took down Orphan and Barthandelus for good.

"As for the rest, well...I'm sure you know it. A paradox threw me into the realm of the goddess, Etro. From there, I was tasked by Monty here to find Cloud. After traveling through the Historia Crux with Monty–"

The moogle scratched his head shamefully. Both he and Lightning remembered that particularly nasty incident with Monty's...ah, stomach digestion issues.

" – and arrived in Aerith's church. That was where the chaos had leaked into Gaia on the first place, initially kickstarting the Geostigma. Sephiroth's genes morphed with it, splitting his being into three different forms," Lightning explained. "Cloud? Care to take over?"

"Sure." The ex-soldiers eyes flicked towards the faint scar lining her fair eyebrow partially hidden by her spiked bangs.

Lightning nodded in encouragement, a very slight nod adorning her reassurance.

"Right...when Lightning and I first met, I was skeptical. After all, we didn't think anything could exist outside of our world...let alone an entirely different universe in and of itself. Tifa and the kids was my first priority, so I admit I was harsh..." Cloud trailed off sheepishly.

"There were a few times when Cloud and I almost punched each other in the jaw," Lightning admitted with a chuckle.

"I would have liked to have seen that!" Bayonetta chimed.

"Well, eventually we came to a mutual agreement. Monty and Light began to provide solutions to problems we couldn't fix ourselves. The Stigma, for example. Lightning's power granted by the goddess was to combat the chaos. Where the chaos leaked around Gaia, we put a stop to it. Eventually, we learned that I was immune to chaos."

"I can only take so much chaotic substances," Lightning put in. "The moogles are completely immune, given their previous inhabitance in Valhalla."

"Anyways, we met up with Rufus Shinra, a sort of...governmental figure, if you want a comparison," Cloud continued, ignoring his partner's tightening jaw. "His organization of the Turks proved helpful. They helped to spread the word about the chaos, create emergency procedures if paradoxes occurred – glitches in the timeline – and helped us keep tabs on various paradox sites across Gaia."

"They were in the way," Lightning interjected.

Cloud sighed and continued on. "In the meantime, Lightning and I searched for a gate seal to permanently shut down the flow of chaos oozing from the church's timegate. Lightning temporarily drove it back, but it always seemed to be able to multiply and return within weeks."

"How do you drive that stuff back?" Enzo wondered.

"I can channel some kind of pure, white magic and it causes a shield to form, driving the chaos back temporarily. Problem is – the more chaos, the harder it is to deploy the magic and make it last. When I first used it, it was weak and Etro was directly using the power, influencing my own hands to cast it," Lightning said. "I developed it into a more powerful force, allowing me to fight the chaos more directly."

Both she and Cloud instantly remembered the night of the Edge party – in direct welcoming of Lightning's acceptance into the world of Gaia and in celebration of their successful "lockdown" at Aerith's church. That night, Tifa had gifted Lightning with a symbol of friendship – a cloudy wolf necklace to match her lightning pendant. Then, the barwoman insisted Lightning attend the party alongside Cloud.

Things went fine until...chaos began creeping towards the entire city on the outskirts of the Wasteland. Screams erupted into the night and the public phased into panic, frightened at so much chaos at one time. Lightning, in her anger at being interrupted during her one chance to be accepted, blasted the chaos away, unleashing powers no mere mortal could produce.

"From then on, we knew we had to stick together if we wanted to protect the timeline, guard Etro, and get Light her sister back," Cloud said. "Lightning can fight the chaos, but I can't do much. So we protect each other."

"And then everything went to hell," Lightning sighed, fingering her glass.

"Uh-oh..."

"Yeah. Tifa tracked down a lady who'd lived in my old hometown...Niblheim. She's–"

"–A creepy old hag, kupo." Monty crossed his arms in disgust at the memory of the old woman.

" – an old woman named Morgan that had lived there for years, preaching about some fake goddess of hers. Even when Sephiroth obliterated the entire town, her house managed to hold out. When we asked her about the remaining Artefact, she told us about this...'Road of Trials.'"

"Absolute hell," Lightning breathed. "It was the 'fastest and easiest' way to get the Artefact...or so she said."

"We trained for months, expecting the worse. It was essentially an entire world where the Final Artefact was hidden inside of a time gate in the tunnels underneath the mountain. Lightning was trained by Tifa, and I trained with both of them _and _Monty, learning how to better strengthen my immunity to the chaos," the ex-SOLDIER explained quietly. He had the attention of the entire room. Bayonetta listed in wonder.

"When we were ready, we jumped through and trudged through the Road of Trials, with only a few days' worth of rations."

"Cloud and I almost came to blows a few times from irritation and starvation. We were delirious. The moogles couldn't come with us, and we were lost. We wasted energy going after false mirages and visions on the horizon. So we split up," Lightning said.

"Stupid mistake, kupo," Monty snapped.

"Morgan led us straight into a trap. As we both struggled to ascend the mountain housing the Final Artefact, Cloud and I met two people."

"A paradoxical version of Sephiroth, one that hadn't yet formed from Kadaaj and his three Remnants, appeared. I defeated him, but by then the mountain rumbled, like our clashes had awoken something huge," Cloud said, eyes faraway and distant. The memory was a powerful one, for both of the guardians.

"I met my match," Lightning said. "The same man who overturned us when we were driving back from our first meeting with Shinra. Then, he had been in his Chaos Bahamut form. Then, he finally appeared in front of me and told me that no matter how many times I tried to succeed, he would be there to thwart me, make sure I failed."

"But you won," Cloud pointed out, patting her shoulder. "That's all that matters."

Lightning snorted. "I don't know how. By some blessing of the goddess, Caius Ballad dissolved before me. Cloud and I met up at the top and got the Final Artefact. By then, an avalanche had formed, burying us in a heap. Cloud's collarbone was broken and a rock had sliced the back of my leg open. That's when a bit of flame helped. The snow had revealed a time gate, and we got the hell out of there. It was aptly named the Road of Trials, long story short.

"Morgan had disappeared. Any trace of her house was gone except for a few stone block, probably the foundation. The moogles suspected that the house had been a paradox itself, an earlier version before the town was destroyed."

"But our story didn't end there," Cloud added. "I got a chance to go to Lightning's world after we went into that gate as well as going to Valhalla and fought our fated foe Caius Ballad several times."

"Oh, great!" Dante sighed "A very long story…"

"Now, now, Dante. We should give our new friends a chance to fully know who they are and where they come from," the black-clad witch reminded him.

"Before I go to the part where we ventured into Lightning's world, let me tell you what my world is," Cloud began.

* * *

**[FFVII OST – Opening ~ Bombing Sequence]**

"The world I live in is called Gaia. To the many others living there, it's called 'The Planet'. Mako energy is basically its life force and using it all up would end up killing it."

Here, Cloud looked at one of the brown folders which had the label 'Gaia' in it. When he looked inside, he saw a replicated map of his world. The cartography was accurate and began pointing the Nibel Area, particularly his old hometown of Nibelheim. Cloud explained each and every town and city and what each looked like, until Rodin stopped at a familiar spot to Cloud.

"That is Nibelheim, my home. I used to live there when I was a kid until I left for Midgar, with my promise to my childhood friend Tifa Lockhart that I would enlist in SOLDIER." Cloud was moving his index finger towards the Midgar area and stopped it on the spot of Midgar. "This is Midgar, a large Mako-empowered city with eight sectors. AVALANCHE's first hideout was there in Sector 7, until the ShinRa Power Electric Company sent the Turks to bomb the foundation column and the President at the time who was Rufus Shinra's father put the blame on us."

"Well, that sucks!" Dante commented "You guys were used as scapegoats?"

"Another fucked up government system, I see," Enzo added.

"You could say that, since both my world and Lightning's were different yet similar, such as bad government systems. But that was back then," Cloud noted.

"Anyway," he continued, "Nibelheim was destroyed by the SOLDIER operative who I once considered my idol, my hero – the hero of the War of Wutai, Sephiroth. He was obsessed on becoming a god and delivering the planet to who he believed to be the rightful owner and his mother – the calamity, Jenova." Rodin then brought out rough sketches of both Sephiroth and Jenova and presented it to the blonde telling his story. Upon seeing them, there was anger flashing in his eyes. Dante, Bayonetta, Enzo, Rodin, the two Moogles, and mostly Lightning can sense it. "At first AVALANCHE was a group dedicated to take down the ShinRa for overusing Mako energy as it is the life force of the planet. Then it was something much bigger when Sephiroth appeared, and it was up to us to stop him from his madness. We succeeded, but with a price…"

"And the price is that one of your cohorts died, right?" the Gates of Hell proprietor asked as he hands him a sketch of a familiar brown-haired emerald-eyed young woman holding a staff and a basket of flowers. Cloud instantly snatched it and he knew who she was.

"Aerith!" he gasped. "Aerith Gainsborough was the last of the ancient race known as the Cetra who had lived in the planet long before people like me! I remember my first encounter with her when I bought a flower from her on my way going back to Sector 7. Sephiroth murdered her right in front of my eyes in the Forgotten City and I took it upon myself in guilt because I was so helpless!" His eyes went teary upon seeing her appearance again.

"I take it she was your first love?" the renowned demon hunter guessed.

"She was," the former Guardian Corps sergeant answered for the chocobo-head knowing his tearful memory of Aerith coming back "He told me that his first date with her was in the Gold Saucer amusement park, which was similar to Nautilus."

"Amusement park, eh? Maybe next time Bayonetta and I might want to go in an amusement park like the one you guys told me," Dante joked. The hunter's goofiness cheered Cloud up motivating him to continue telling his story.

"Then, two years after the Meteor crisis, Edge was built outside the ruined Midgar and I founded Strife Delivery Services," the chocobo-head continued "Back then, I was drowning in guilt, one of the many symptoms of the disease Geostigma, a disease I was infected with due to the Jenova cells in my body, which made me get controlled by Sephiroth who labeled me as a puppet, _his_ puppet. I didn't have the right to protect anybody anymore, until I got encouragement from my AVALANCHE friends, particularly Tifa. It's what motivated me to defeat Sephiroth's remnants and a revived Sephiroth himself. 'Dilly dally, shilly shally' she told me… After all that pain and guilt, I realized I was never alone suffering."

"And that, my friends, is my backstory and Gaia," Cloud finished. "Now let's go to the part where we went to Lightning's world."

* * *

**[FFXIII-2 OST – Lightning's Theme ~Unguarded Future~]**

"Yes, Cloud. Please tell them that," Lightning suggested. Cloud began with a small 'Ahem."

"Prior to going to Lightning's world, I was at first shocked to see what I first thought was a wormhole, until Mog, another moogle who came out, cleared it up for me that the Historia Crux is a gateway where no ordinary being, even a fal'Cie, can travel to not only in different timelines of just one dimension or universe, but also another one."

"Which explained why we also ended up here," Lightning added.

"Exactly," Cloud continued "Anyway, on to when I first glimpsed at Lightning's world. We first stopped by Sunleth Waterscape in the crumbling Cocoon in the year 300 AF and we first encountered her sister Serah, a hunter from the future and Serah's compatriot Noel Kreiss, and her fiancé Snow Villiers."

The pinkette snarled upon hearing Snow's name, let alone his full name.

"Whoa! Talk about bad blood," Enzo commented on the ex-sergeant. Lightning heard it and gave the man a glare, which made him drop off from his barstool down to the floor hard.

Cloud continued on "By the time I witnessed Lightning and Noel berating Snow for not only being Serah's fiancé but also for him proclaiming himself a hero, I became reasonable and saw where the big blonde was coming from. I then taught him what Zack taught me. Lightning made sure he lives up to what I taught him so he could be a better hero and fiancé for Serah."

"Then, we went back in Valhalla as Caius Ballad went out on an all-out assault," Lightning then continued on. "In the final part of that battle, Caius got the upper hand on me, my guardian armor completely broken and I was embarrassingly naked in front of him, my pride demolished. He then brought out his sword and began to dive in towards me threatening that he would kill me in my birthday suit. I heard a thrust, only for Cloud to get in the way taking the thrust for me. And he first experienced actual death; however, death did not stop him from holding Caius off as I retreated back to Etro's temple where I'd be tended to my wounds and my guardian armor was fixed."

"While Caius fought me, he then made snobbish remarks on how love can be such a foolish weakness, in which I retorted back 'What about Yeul?'. Fighting Caius was like fighting Sephiroth all over again, except this immortal's motives are far worse than that One-Winged Angel," Cloud continued on. "He told me that he'd given up on protecting Yeul due to her living and dying over and over again and in order for it to stop is to kill the goddess Etro. He also told me that due to my dark shell, I might be destined to join him, in which I refused to. I knew what future consequences would come if I came to him."

Dante then also asked Cloud one question. "It seems you two have something with each other. Care to tell us what that is? 'Cause Bayonetta and I kinda noticed that when you two exchanged some lovely smirks while we kicked angels' and demons' asses."

"Well…" the pinkette began with a blush. "This 'thing' we have for each other began when we were tasked to help the World Regenesis Organization in Cloud's world in their war against the rogue SOLDIER faction Deepground. Cloud and I aided Vincent Valentine in his quest to stop Omega, a deadly WEAPON."

Then, she leaned closer to Cloud. "At one point of the war, I was held hostage by Deepground. Cloud knew our task cannot proceed if either of us got separated. At all costs he was determined to save me, just as I did for him when he got his official Eidolon Fenrir back in Valhalla when he first entered it. He did so as he fought countless Deepground soldiers and I was about to be violated by one of them; that soldier who imprisoned me had tried to grope my body!" she finished touching some of her body parts where the perverted soldier touched her.

"I agree, kupo!" Mont Blanc retorted in fury. "I witnessed it all. Good thing Cloud killed him in Lightning's defense."

"At first, I never understood this strange feeling I'm having. But it had something to do with Serah on how she felt for Snow. In the end, after realizing our similar stories, I knew my heart said I needed a compatible partner, not just being fellow guardians to one another, but in life as well."

"Then what about this Tifa woman?" Enzo asked Cloud "Isn't she your childhood friend? 'Cause usually, when a boy and girl know each other for such a long time, they fall for one another in the end."

"When I think of Tifa, I can only think of her as nothing more than just a friend even though we have been that since we were kids," Cloud answered. "And that's the only thing I can think of when it comes to her."

"And you, Lightning? What made you fall for your fellow guardian Cloud?" the man with the hat and shades then asked the pinkette soldier.

"Having been guardians for a long time, looking out for each other, and what Serah told me during the thirteen days leading to the Purge of Bodhum in her defense of Snow that I would try getting myself a guy who is so like me so I can understand how she felt for him," she answered. "And that is when I was tasked to find Cloud. It wasn't 'love at first sight' when I first met him as did he on me. There were already signs of us falling for one another, like during our sparring in Valhalla or in our respective worlds as well as other worlds prior to here, the party in Edge, and in our long travels."

"Interesting," Rodin remarked.

"So when did you two first kissed?" Dante asked, making the two soldiers blush wildly.

"It was after another battle against Caius in Valhalla after we drove him back. It was that strong bond we have shared between us that drove him back. Exhausted, we got close to one another and we eventually kissed. It awed the two moogles when they saw it happen," the pinkette explained despite having a blush.

"And their first kiss was very romantic, kupo," Mog commented.

* * *

"And that is the end of our tale," Lightning finished for herself and Cloud.

Bayonetta smiled. "What a wonderful tale!"

"That is somethin'..." Dante added.

Rodin crossed his arms and changed his tone by a bit so that he can go for another topic.

"Ever wanted to know about the legendary dark knight? The demon Sparda?"

"You mean the demon that rebelled against his own kind for humanity's sake?" the pinkette asked. "Mog and Monty here mentioned that."

"It's about time we know who Sparda really is asides from just being Dante's father," the blonde finished

Rodin then placed his hands on the counter but close to the blonde.

"Well, then..."

* * *

_**[Bayonetta OST - One of a Kind]**_

The scene changed from The Gates of Hell bar with Cloud, Lightning, Dante, Bayonetta and Enzo sitting, Mog and Monty floating and Rodin standing in front of them all behind the counter to a barren wasteland.

Throughout the flashback, Rodin narrated everything.

_Two millenia ago, demons emerged from the depths of Inferno. They came at war with humans. The demon prince Mundus made his first decree as ruler of Inferno to rule the entire human world, not just the demon world._

The wasteland had become a battlefield, with a human army on one side and an army of demons on the other side. They were ready to wage war on one another.

_The humans valiantly defended their world against the demons. However, they became powerless when they realized they could not defeat what they believe__d__was__ inevitable._

The scene shifted to a demon with reptilian scales all over his body, devilish yellow eyes, a red chakra on his forehead, insect-like wings, and two horns horizontally turned down. He wielded the Sword of Sparda seen in Dante's office.

_However, one demon saw the flaw of __his kin's own__ doing and began taking pity on humanity for their hardship and camaraderie._

"_The Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, right_?" Lightning asked when the bartender was about to continue his narration

"_Correct,_" Rodin replied. He continued on with his narration.

_Leading a small group of rebellious demons who also shared a common cause of taking pity on humanity like he did, Sparda and his allies eradicated the demons serving Mundus. As for the ruler of Inferno himself, the dark knight sealed him inside Inferno, sealing the __Hell Gate__ that connect__ed__ between the human world and Inferno._

The scene then shifted to Sparda pointing his sword leading his own group of freedom fighters. His group consisted of himself as the leader, the dragon-like demon that appeared from Bayonetta's hair, a demon similar to a bird, a centipede demon, moving demonic hands, floating demon skulls with arms holding miniature scythes albeit less sinister than those of what the Seven Hells wield. There was a spider demon breathing fire, a black and white twin demoness with butterfly and moth motifs in their suits respectively, and a larger beautiful demoness resembling some sort of goddess. Then, they charged at the demons while Sparda faced head-on against his former master.

"_So that's why there are some demons who are working alongside Bayonetta and Dante!_" Cloud exclaimed. Rodin nodded with a small grumble. The sole proprietor of The Gates of Hell bar continued on.

_Upon sealing in the remaining demons, his own demonic powers were sealed inside too as well as himself. The demons that fought alongside him went to the other side of the gate and sealed it there, inadvertently sealing themselves in._

The scene shifted to Sparda, now in a human facade, reflecting if he would ever see his comrades again...

_Later on, he broke out of his prison, went to the human world, and fell in love with a human named Eva. They wedded and Eva conceived twin sons._

The scene shifted to Sparda meeting a blonde female human with a resemblance to Trish who was assumed to be Eva for the first time. The scene then quickly shifted showing an oil painting of Sparda sitting down on an elegant chair, Eva looking down on twin babies resembling Sparda; one covered in a red sheet while the other in a blue sheet [2].

"_And one of them is Dante_," Lightning answered knowing he and Cloud are sitting beside the renowned son of Sparda.

* * *

_**[End of 'One of a Kind']**_

The scene then shifted back to the present, the fighting quartet sitting on barstools facing the bartender.

"And the other twin is Vergil," the remaining son of Sparda exclaimed. "I'll explain more who he is during our quest." The soldier duo nodded.

Then, Lightning wondered what Bayonetta's story was.

"Rodin," the ex-sergeant called. "Maybe you can explain some of Bayonetta's past."

The bartender nodded. So he then began telling the story.

The scene then shifted to five hundred years ago, one thousand five hundred years after Sparda's rebellion. Rodin began his narration.

* * *

_**[Bayonetta OST - Intro to Opening]**_

_Five hundred years ago, there were two clans who __were__ the overseers of time._

_The Lumen Sages, whose affinity is that of the light, Paradiso, the sun, and the possessor of the 'Right Eye of the World'._

The scene shifted to a holy religious temple. Inside the temple were men garbed in gold and white holy sutras.

_And the Umbra Witches, whose affinity is that of the darkness, Inferno, the moon, and the possessor of the 'Left Eye of the World'._

The scene shifted to a dark temple. Inside the temple were women garbed in colors revering to the darkness, laced with elegant gold and black with their faces covered and bright eyes ever watchful.

_Together, they watched over time and space and their parts of 'The Eyes of the World' __were __their most sacred treasure._

_But one day, a Lumen Sage and an Umbra Witch fell for one another. Their names were Balder and Rosa. Their love was unexplained that Rosa conceived an 'impure' child._

The scene then shifted to a place outside both temples where a Lumen Sage who was assumed to be Balder and an Umbra Witch as Rosa met. Later on, Balder and Rosa were shown carrying a baby.

"_Which, of course, is me,_" Bayonetta added. She then let her informant continue.

_Because of this act of forbidden love, it enraged both clans._

The scene then shifted to the inside of the Umbra Witches' temple, a dark arena hallowed into a small hallway with prison cells lining the sides, gently lit by flickering torchlight. By the sides of the mahogany carpet, a line of Lumen Sages and Umbra Witches simply watched their fellow clansmen being lectured by a woman known only as the Umbran Elder. Balder and Rosa embraced each other in fear.

The elder began her speech, a lecture to both Balder and Rosa.

"_In your wickedness, you have broken the ancient commandments, and crafted a bond with one of the light,_" she began, referring to Rosa, her voice ringing through the silent halls.

"_Our laws are clear,_" she continued. "_They demand you be eternally imprisoned._"

"_Wait! You do not understand, __E__lder!_" Rosa shouted, reaching her hand out as her fellow witches clutched on to her, dragging her to a prison cell. The same thing happened for Balder when his fellow sages did the same; however, he felt little guilt and chose to remain stoic... The witch was shocked at his reaction.

"_My love..."_ she said sadly as a tear fell down to her cheek

One of the witches held baby Bayonetta and showed it to the Elder. The leader of the Umbra Witches stared into the child's bright, grey eyes. For a mere second her face softened, but was replaced by a look of disgust.

"_As for the impure child, she must be kept from the path of the dark arts forever!_" she demanded.

_The consequence of this forbidden act? An all__-__out war between the two clans, breaking the truce between them. And the chaos between light and darkness ensued!_

The scene then shifted to an all out genocide. Both the Lumen Sages and the Umbra Witches fought brutally.

_The war was over. __The Umbra clan of darkness reigned as the victors._

The scene then shifted to the remaining Umbra Witches celebrating their triumph.

_However, humanity feared the dark powers of the Umbra Witches. So they instigated the 'Witch Hunts'._

The scene then shifted to the Umbra Witches being killed by humans in many brutal ways, including torture by means of the guillotine and iron maiden Bayonetta used against the angels.

_The hunt, however, was instigated by none other than the last Lumen Sage who survived the Clan War - Balder - who was watching along the sidelines._

_Years passed, and as the last of the Umbra Witches fell, only two remained alive. Balder sought after the last...Bayonetta. After a bleak childhood spent in the confinement of the prison cell and witnessing her mother's death before her eyes, she grew up to fight another of the clan...that witch sent her to her defeat, and so she slept for centuries._

The scene then shifted to Balder without his sage hat simply watching from afar on how the Witch Hunts progressed. Balder then whispered telepathically to a grown-up Bayonetta sleeping in a coffin.

"_Rise, my child. Unleash your power, and awaken The Eyes of the World..._"

* * *

_**[End of 'Intro to Title'; back to "The Gates of Hell"]**_

The scene then shifted back to the present.

Lightning and Cloud could not help but pity Bayonetta for carrying such a heavy burden on being the forbidden child of two opposing clans. The witch lay her head on Dante's shoulder as the hunter held her shoulder and brought her closer to him.

"It's not of a big deal, now is it?" Dante began. "That happened in the past already..."

"There may be humans who believed the last two Umbra Witches are the real heroes, but there are still those who believed in Balder's Witch Hunts," Rodin warned them then faced both the half-demon and the witch. "It could be possible that the cult coming to get you guys could either be in the castle town of Fortuna or back in the town of Vigrid. You might find those so-called 'Artefacts' there," he finished.

Suddenly, Rodin faced Cloud.

"Cloud, just sit tight. I got something for you," the bartender told him, the bar stand moving as it revealed several weapons like different pre-modern weaponry and guns held on with hooks attached. Later, he came out from his bar office, holding a gold sheet with a wooden box inside.

"You'd better treat these like they're your close friends. I worked a whopping load of horseshit over them. Plus, it's the first time I worked on the .50 caliber. They're really one of a kind like Bayonetta's Scarborough Fair."

The arms dealer then placed the box in front of Cloud's part of the bar stand and he unveiled the box. The chocobo-head opened the box and it revealed two .50 caliber gold Desert Eagle pistols which, save for the handle, were completely plated in pure gold. It had a more golden stark than his hair.

* * *

_**[Bayonetta OST - Scarborough Fair Equipped]**_

Upon gazing the two pistols, Cloud then held one of them on his left hand. Lightning moved closer to her blonde partner and inspected the other gun for herself. While the two soldiers inspected his new twin pistols, Rodin perked up a cocktail for his new would-be Gates of Hell regulars. He got two cocktail shakers and began doing random talented acts, such as juggling them and shaking them like playing a pair of maracas. Back to the two hardened soldiers, Lightning handed Cloud one of the pistols she was inspecting. Now wielding two guns, the blonde began using the art of Gun-Kata, without firing the guns of course. The blonde knew that Rodin, by his malevolent presence, might be one benefactor he didn't want to pick a fight, or he might suffer a lot of consequences for ruining his bar.

After the barkeep was done with the shakers, he opened them one by one and poured it over in the soldiers' respective cocktail glasses.

On Lightning's glass, he poured a creamy pink liquid in it, and then garnished it with a fully-bloomed red rose which he trimmed off its thorns as well as a fresh strawberry beside it. Lightning saw the cocktail and considered it a nod to her crystal - a fully-bloomed pink rose and her hair color, not to mention her favorite fruit, a strawberry - was on that glass. Lightning knew the liquor was her favorite one and is one of the drinks constantly served in Lebreau's beachside bar.

On Cloud's glass, he poured a golden yellow liquid in it and garnished it with a cut from a golden sweet mango. Cloud saw this as a nod to his hair color. Once both glasses were filled, he pushed it gently to the two who caught it after the spiky blonde put his new guns in the new gun holsters complimenting them on the lower back of his top. When Dante saw it stored there out in the open, it reminded him on how his first coat had gun holsters out in the open too, as well as giving Cloud the rockers' gesture, implying that the snow-white haired demon hunter is mainly into rock music, especially those that are loud, vocals are mostly screams and hardened distorted guitar sounds.

Seeing the blonde deliveryman armed with his new pistols, Rodin began "I haven't got a name for them Deagles. Perhaps you might want to name them yourself?"

"Hmmm…" the blonde began thinking very hard on what he could name it. Then, in his mind, random names got into his head, such as "Twin Golden Eagles". However, he turned that name down because it sounded so cliché and obvious.

Then, one name crossed his mind…

"Rodin, Enzo, Dante, Bayonetta, Mog, Monty, Lightning," the blonde began facing each aforementioned people in order with the strawberry-blonde woman being the last "I want to call these twin golden Desert Eagles with this."

"Tell us the name of your new guns, Cloud," Lightning told him.

"_Dark Shells of the Light._"

After some minutes of hearing that name, everyone said nothing at first, but then thought it might be a rather cool name due to Cloud's dark power which serves only for light.

"Lightning," the blonde called the pinkette who then grabbed his hand, blushing at the action. Dante whistled an "Oh yeah!" as a reaction.

Bayonetta's reaction was a smile. Rodin was unfazed. Enzo was in shock, shocked to the fact that he never knew even the hardened soldiers may have found love in the battlefield. Mog and Monty knew this was coming knowing that they've been doing this together for some time now.

"The reason why I named my new guns as that is because I am the darkness that serves under the light. You are the light, while I am the darkness which went against it yet did not receive the light, like the dark knight Sparda did against his own demon brethren."

"So the story of my old man inspired you to name your new toys; right, Spiky?" Dante guessed.

"Well he did rebel against his own kin in the first place for humanity's fate."

"Good point there," the demon hunter ended and gave him a friendly pat on his exposed right shoulder.

"Not a bad name if you ask me," Bayonetta added.

"A worthy name for a worthy cause I might add," Enzo added further.

"Good name, kupo," Mog and Monty commented in unison.

"Has a good kick _and_ why it suits you," Lightning added as she held his left hand with her right.

"Then it's settled," Rodin finished, and then faced the blonde. "Alright, Cloud. Bring your guns out and put it here on the counter." The blonde did as what he was told. He brought out his guns and put it on the counter.

"Now, place your hand on each gun by the barrel." Cloud exactly did that. Then, the bald bartender placed his hands on top of the chocobo-head's.

"This is for naming your guns. So relax. It may hurt a bit since it may use some of your energy," he warned him.

Then, red sparks of electricity raced on from Rodin. Cloud had dark blue sparks of electricity coming out from his palms which would come out from his brand. After the small ritual, the process was complete. The writings now read on one side "Dark Shells of the Light" in the same articulated writing of Dante's Ebony and Ivory and Bayonetta's Scarborough Fair; however, it was in dark metallic gray. After naming it, Cloud got his guns and put it in its rightful holsters.

Suddenly, both doors of Rodin's bar opened catching the attention of all in the bar. Upon its opening, it revealed a short snow-white haired woman clad in red with her red eyeglasses always at her forehead. She too, like Bayonetta, wielded four guns – two are held in her hands, and two attached on the heels of her black and red stilettos. Her red elegant suit had purple feather ornaments at the end of the sleeves and smaller ones behind the bottom. She wore a black scarf around her neck. Bayonetta knew who this woman really is as she stood there with arms crossed with a smile.

_**Who is this woman? What is she doing in Rodin's bar? And why does she appear similarly to Dante, with her hair white and her suit red? And why does Bayonetta know her? Find out in the next part!**_

* * *

_And that's all there is too it for this part of the chapter. Care to guess who that woman with four guns is? It's not Bayonetta. She may wear red and has white hair, but she's not a female Dante clone… Those who have played Bayonetta before or seen playthrough videos of it will know who._

_And so sorry if this chapter might be too long for you to read..._

Notes:

[1] According to Antonio Redgrave's notebook in Bayonetta entitled "Rodin and The Gates of Hell" AKA 'The Dump', it is a "wretched hive for all sorts of scum and villainy; home to everyone from black market businessmen, to informants, and _devil hunters_ in between". It could be possible Dante is also a regular in The Gates of Hell.

[2] The DMC Graphic Edition Sparda Family picture, as seen in the DMC Wiki in Sparda's article. Although I changed the sheets' colors the babies were covered in to know who's who.

* * *

**Note from WriteFF13: **

_First of all, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I provided all back-story to pre-TCBLnD events for Cloud and Lightning's journey through my own fic, _Worlds Collide, _as well as the usual editing_. _If you'd like to know more about that, feel free to read it. Several parts are altered to avoid spoiling the story, but I didn't take too many dramatic liberties. Don't forget to review and tell us what you thought! _

_Write on, _

**WriteFF13**


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